Wild Animals
by C-Puff
Summary: When a friend asks you for help you gotta help them right? Especially when it's not just them that's in trouble but those they love as well right? Even when you gotta face monsters right? Even if those monsters are the ones inside you.. ...right?
1. Prologue

_**Edit:** First Place winner for "Best Cross-Over" as well as "Best Happy-Ending" 2009 TMNT Fanfic Competition_

_--------_

Here it is! The fic I am currently writing for the TMNT universe based on the 2003 cartoon.

The fic takes place somewhere after season 4 or after season 7 depending on your preference (I do not like seasons 5 – 7 so I probably won't be referring to them in this story)

Although the fic itself takes place in the universe set in the 2003 cartoon I will most likely be adding very small elements from other incarnations of the TMNT Universe (such as the comics and CGI movie, but not so much as to be cryptic)

Also, I will be making large references to Usagi Yojimbo's universe but not so much that you'll have needed to read the comics to understand what's going on.

(Please note I have only read up to Volume 7 of Usagi Yojimbo so some of my information may be out of date.I am having trouble getting my hands on Volumes 8 and 9 which are out of print at the time of writing this)

Anyway with all that stuffiness out of the way please enjoy and PLEASE let me know what you think because I am not the most confident writer ^^;

Lastly, I do not own TMNT (that would be awesome though)

and I do not own Usagi Yojimbo (although that too, would be awesome XDD)

Enjoy~!

**xxxxx**

_Prologue_

_Wind whipped past me, stinging my eyes as I continued to hurtle forward._

_The bright lights swirled and danced all around, almost as if they were trying to disorientate me. I had no doubts they would've accomplished their task if I had any notion where I was, or where I was going for that matter._

_I had lost sight of my target._

_Hadn't he been just a few steps ahead of me? Yet now I cannot see any trace of him nor that which he had taken from me._

_My throat tightened as I felt fear run up my arms before clamping down around my chest._

_I could not have lost him. There was nowhere he could've gone except straight ahead._

_Damn these lights! Their dancing and the air rushing past me was causing my eyes to tear up, practically blinding me._

_But I will not fail! I couldn't fail! It was not an option._

_How many times had I been in situations where failure meant utter ruin? I had lost count years ago. From battles, skirmishes and political plots to secret missions, duties to others and codes of honour. I had been through them all, and always failure had seemed a death sentence at the time for each of them. But strangely, when bitter failure did befall me and my comrades, I had always survived it. Even when there could be no hope of salvation I had somehow prevailed and continued on._

_But I had lost many friends along the way who were not so fortunate._

_It was a fact of war. Lives will always be lost, whether you are victor or not. Sometimes lives are openly given. Perhaps for a noble cause. For a battle that is much larger than the individual, or the protection of some-one more important than oneself. However there are times when the lives lost are not given but harshly taken._

_Innocent victims. These are also a fact of war. A fact much harder to swallow. Sadly, to be able to survive the horrors that life will inevitably throw at us, one must learn to accept it. If you try to save every innocent life caught in the turmoil of others you will only drive yourself mad. The best one can hope for is to do what you can, and accept that you alone cannot always keep every innocent person from harm, even if you try._

_But then, why try at all? Why put oneself through constant pain and misery trying to fight and protect those who have no other hope, knowing that you alone are not enough to save them? Having to constantly be faced by your own shortcomings and see other people have to pay the price for them? It would be better to only focus on oneself. Concerned only with your own self preservation, for if you fail, the only person who would be hurt is you and you alone. If no-one relies on you or looks to you for protection then you will never fail any-one._

_I have known people in the past who live like this. They stick their necks out for no-one and do not believe in any-one or anything but themselves. I find it a sad existence. But often, I have seen people who have devoted themselves to this line of thinking unable to uphold it. Some-one may come into their life that, despite themselves, they feel they need to protect. Or they may join a worthy cause on the basis that it would offer them good pay, and yet when it is time to collect they will be mysteriously absent._

_I think the truth is, as much as we wish it to be otherwise, we cannot live our lives apart from the rest of the world. Even the most vile and cruel of men can be prone to feelings of affection. We are all reliant on others in one way or another. Such is our nature. Our compassion is what makes us what we are. It is the essence of our humanity._

_Failure was not an option._

_So many were depending one me. I could not let them down! I refused to accept that my target had escaped me. People were counting on me! I was counting on me! I had to catch up. I had find him and reclaim that which he had taken._

_The lights were spinning faster. The wind blowing harder._

_And then all at once they both vanished, replaced by a blinding whiteness._

_I threw my arms over my face to protect my eyes from the sudden glare. The wind picked up again, but I realised it was not the same as the wind which I had just come from._

_I was falling._

_I had less than seconds to try and stop myself from crashing into the ground. I threw my hands out wildly, trying to grab at anything that I could._

_I felt a sharp pain as my hand jerked, having grabbed a large rope. I hung briefly for a second before I continued my fall. Whatever the rope had been attached to had not been strong enough to support my weight. Somewhere high above me I heard what sounded like a crack of lightning as the portal which brought me here closed._

_I was still clawing at the air, trying desperately to save myself but there wasn't enough time. I felt pain shoot through me as I hit the ground. Sand sprayed into the air and formed itself into a dust cloud around me. By some higher mercy I had landed on what appeared to be a sandbank of some kind. But that merely meant that I wasn't instantly killed on impact. My head swam and my vision blurred. If it wasn't for the adrenaline pumping though me I knew I would've been in a great amount of pain._

_I tried to shake it off but that turned out to be a bad decision as I felt my head roll. Dark figures came into my field of vision and loomed over me, probably inspecting who I was._

_I could hear the voices of men talking. They sounded confused, even frightened. I had trouble understanding them. At first I thought it was due to my hard landing, but I slowly realised it was because they were speaking English, not Japanese._

_"What the hell is it Paul?"_

_"I have no idea...Some kind of PETA Publicity stunt?"_

_"A rabbit in a kimono?!"_

_"I've seen 'em do weirder things."_

_"Hey! Hey he's making a break for it! Grab him!"_

_"Shit! Bob stop him!!"_

_"Too late! He's jumped the fence!"_

_"Dammit! ...how the hell am I suppose to explain THIS to the foreman?"_

**xxxxx**

Author's note:

this may be a little confusing but I promise it'll make sense later on.


	2. The News

_So now we can get properly into the story. Please let me know what you think and if you have any pointers or suggestions! I do not write often and would very much like to stay motivated and finish this story!_

_I do not own TMNT or Usagi Yojimbo_

_xxxxx_

Just another typical day in the lair. Or evening rather. It was hard to imagine the abaondoned water reserve we'd made our home had _ever_ been a quiet, empty place. I cannot even imagine it without the noise and echoes of some-one in my family sparring or the drone of the various Tvs or the soft noise of Donny's machines.

I was sitting in the armchair, calmly waiting for my two brothers to come to a decision about what to watch. And by come to a decision I mean I was waiting for one of them to wrestle the remote away from the other long enough to break it so the channel couldn't be changed again. I sighed and uncrossed my legs, getting ready to intervene. If they DID break the remote Donny was gonna throw a fit.

"Hey come on. Isn't there something you _both_ want to watch?"

Mike and Raph stopped their wrestling long enough to both spare me a look and a unified "No!" before they continued to try and pry each other off the remote. The Various TV screens flickered and sporadically changed channel as the two of them pressed random buttons in between elbowing each other. I sighed, standing up.

"Come on guys, you're gonna break something"

"Yeah! Like Mikey's head!" Raph said as he shoved our youngest brother off of him, and the couch.

Mikey gave a yelp as he hit the ground, barely missing the coffee table. Seeing the eminent danger I hurried forward and saved the lone teacup that I had placed there earlier.

"Watch it!"

"Yeah Mikey! Watch it!" Raph grinned, sitting triumphantly on the couch with remote in hand, grinning down at Mikey. I was mildly irritated that for the second time Raph had used what I'd said as a means to further his and Mike's game.

Mikey threw him a pout. "No fair Raph! You got to pick the show last night!"

"Only cuz you didn't wanna watch anythin'. But it's my day today so you're just gonna hafta cope." He twirled the remote in his hand teasingly.

"And here I thought you'd return the favour!" Mikey grumbled as he pushed himself up off the floor.

"That's 'cause you're too trustin' Mikey" Raph retorted as he made himself comfortable and flipped the TV to his channel of choice.

I made my way back to the armchair and sat down, giving the sulking Mikey a sympathetic smile. "Don't worry Mike, I'll let you have my day ok?"

He looked up and gave me a grin. "Thanks Leo! Good to know SOME PEOPLE still look out for their brothers!" He said, shooting Raph a glance.

Raph ignored him, watching his show. Mikey sat up and clambered back onto the couch next to him, nestling down, legs crossed to watch whatever Raph had turned the channel to. I smiled, glad they'd both finally settled down and turned to watch myself. It was nearing evening and we were set to go on a patrol later. I didn't want Michelangelo and Raphael to get each other all wound up before we even went out.

Raph had turned the TV to some or other gun-fu show. Or it might've been a movie that was half-way over already, I wasn't sure. Either way I enjoyed switching off my brain if only for a while before going out when I'd have to keep my senses peaked and my wits sharp. I guess on some level you could call it a sort of meditative preparation, without the meditation part. There was nothing wrong with formal meditation, I enjoyed it but it was harder to accomplish with Mikey and Raph's rough-housing. Watching mindless TV wasn't a bad substitute.

"What's playing?"

I looked over a shoulder to see Donny coming closer. He must've finished whatever project he'd been working on for the day. Either that or Mikey and Raph's noise had broken his concentration.

Raph merely gestured at the TV in reply. "It's almost over." He said without bothering to turn around.

"Then why did you wanna watch it so bad?!" Mikey whined at him.

"'Cause the end is the best part! So shut up." He grumbled, keeping his eyes on the TV.

Donny stood himself next to the couch, not bothering to sit down. He scrunched his muzzle slightly. "You're watching _that_?" He said as if he couldn't believe Raph would lower himself to such a level.

"Just because you like your movies with more robots Donny don't mean the rest of us can't enjoy ourselves." Raph said irritably.

"Yeah! And that's not just referring to the actors you like!" Mikey chimed in, giving Donny a grin.

Don rolled his eyes "Very witty Mikey."

I remained silent as the three of them argued. Perhaps it'd be better to go on patrol early tonight. Every-one seemed to be rather antsy. I turned to check the time on the VCR which Donny had miraculously managed to tune. It was almost 7. Rush hour, no time for 4 mutant turtles to be running around the rooftops with all those frustrated motorists sitting in unmoving traffic. I sighed, wondering how I could keep my brothers from starting a scrap before we went out. I could see a second wrestling match not far on the horizon, and I was pretty sure Either Mikey or Raph or both of them would drag Donny in as well this time. Then of course I would try and step in, be unsuccessful and somehow find myself joining in instead. And then by the time it was late enough for us to go out we'd all be a little tired already and less in the mood to put any real training into the exercise. For now it seems we were still ok though. Raph was trying to watch his movie, and Mikey and Don aren't very good at arguing with each other. But once the credits started to roll I'd better find a way to keep them all relaxed. I got up and walked to the kitchen, hoping a bribe would do the trick. I entered and made my way to the fridge, opening it and pulling out a couple of sodas. I tucked them under my arm, pressing them against my plastron so the cold wouldn't sting my skin more than it needed to before turning and heading back for the entertainment area. Whatever debate has happened between Mikey and Don had petered out and they'd both settled to watching the end of the movie. I came over and handed Don a can. He seemed a little taken aback but thanked me politely as Donny tended to do. I gave the other two to Raph and Mike, the latter smiling happily before cracking it open while the former gave an unintelligible noise in thanks. I sat down again and cracked open my own can. The credits crawled across the screen.

"Does the ending strike any-one else as slightly abrupt?" Donny asked before taking a sip.

"We get it Don. Ya don't like the movie." Raph grumbled at him.

Donatello shook his head. "No I'm not saying that to be critical I honestly want to know if I'm the only one who thinks so."

"All I know if the dude cuts off another guy's _face_!" Mikey grinned happily. "That's all an ending needs as far as I care!"

I saw a corner of Raph's mouth go up at this but he gave Don a shrug. "It does its job Don. What more d'you want?"

"I dunno." Donny sighed, sitting down on the arm-rest. "I just felt it could've elaborated a little bit more than it did."

"Dude gets his _face sliced off!_" Mikey said again as a way of argument. "Not his head but his FACE!"

"I don't think there was much left ta worry about Don." Raph said, ignoring Mikey. "Besides, the last movie _you_ watched didn't exactly have the most concrete ending either. The guy flies off into the sky? Yeah, THAT makes a lot of sense."

Don made an aggravated noise. "It's just a visual representation of the extent of his abilities regarding warping the artificial world around him done in the least amount of time! It's not meant to be over-analysed!"

"Only understood about half of that Don." Raph said almost uncaringly.

The TV chimed the hour and the evening news started its broadcast. I tore my attentions away from the argument to scan the headlines quickly. A fire had occurred on Jerome Ave. But it didn't appear to be overly serious apart from property damage. There was some or other report on the current state of politics which I didn't pay much attention to and apparently there was a story regarding Greenpeace or something. Nothing overly serious that we needed to concern ourselves with. Besides, I make it a habit of reading the paper in the morning so unless a major event had occurred during the day I tended to be pretty on top of things regarding the state of the city. I turned my attention back to the others who were still arguing which movie had the more ridiculous ending. I didn't want to take sides, especially since I knew Donny was not the type to need backing up in a debate. Besides, watching him and Raph having a, well not argument but a difference in opinions was always entertaining to watch.

"At least the movies _I_ like tend to deal with more than just shooting the bad-guys till they die." Don said with that air of slight arrogance that signalled he was getting annoyed and flexing his intellect.

"Yeah, that's only what the _main_ plot concerns itself with." Raph sneered at him.

"But you shouldn't always let the main plot be your focus! There are so many subtleties going on under the surface of the main plot! That's the _mark_ of a well formed story! One that delves deeper than the mere plot-line of going from point A to point B via a string of circumstances! It's what made the classics classics! Kubrick, Kurosawa and Scorsese understood this! That's why they're considered the best of their class!"

Raph gave him an extremely bored expression, resting his head on a hand. "But generally it still involves people shooting and stabbing each other."

"_Yes_" Donny said in frustration. "But that's not the _point!"_

"I like Gamera" Mikey interrupted with a broad grin.

Raph shot him an annoyed look. "What does THAT have to do with it?"

"He's the friend of all children Raph!" Mikey reprimanded him. "And he can breathe fire! And he can fly!"

Donny put his face in his hands.

"We should figure out a way to fly." Mikey carried on. "'Course then we'd hafta do stuff like fight giant monsters and I' don't think Raph's the "friend of all children" type. He'd probably just eat 'em!"

"That's it!" Raph bunched his shoulders and made a threatening lunge at Mike. "One more crack like that and I'm gonna whap you so hard it'll knock all that cotton right outta your head!"

Mike gave a yelp and sprung off the couch, rounded the arm-rest and put Don between Raph and himself, putting his hands on Don's shoulders and using him a shield.

"Hey!" Don protested. "Hey!!" He repeated himself when he saw Raph clambering over, clearly planning to go _through_ him to get to Mike.

"Cut it out guys!" I said, doubting they'd listen "It's almost time to go, just save it till then."

Raph made an irritable noise but slumped back down onto the couch. Don relaxed, not noticing Mikey pulling faces over his shoulder at my more impulsive brother. Luckily it seemed Raph had for whatever reason decided to take my advice and ignored him.

"_...said that tensions are still high regarding the matter but that he is confident this meeting will mend some of the animosity between the parties involved."_ The news reporter babbled to no-one but herself. _"And on the lighter side of the news it seems that animal rights group "PETA" had a minor demonstration at a construction site in Prospect Heights today when one of their members dressed as a rabbit supposedly fell out of the sky, landing on a mound of construction sand before fleeing the scene."_

"Really. I appreciate the sentiment but I find that sometimes their protests border on the criminally insane." Don said with a light frown.

"Great. Every-one can fly but us." Mikey grumbled.

Raph gave him a confused look. "Say what?"

"Well how else do you just 'drop out the sky'?"

"Ever hear of jumping?" Raph cocked a brow at him.

"_...of the group denied any involvement in the rather bizarre event but have not ruled out some of their members taking things into their own hands. However they claim no responsibility and discourage their members from copying the example set by the mystery individual."_

"_You know Estelle, I realise PETA is known for their radical demonstrations but sometimes I find them to be a little cryptic in their message. Using a rabbit as a symbol I understand by the point behind wearing a kimono over the suit escapes me."_ The chipper co-host smiled at the reporter.

"_Well unless the person responsible comes forward I guess we'll never know" _She replied as they shared an astoundingly phoney laugh together.

"How would he get into the construction yard dressed as a rabbit to jump off it?" Mikey argued, still preoccupied with Raph.

"How the heck should I know?" He snapped.

I sighed and checked the time again despite knowing it was going to show 7:30 since the News just ended. The earliest I wanted to leave was 8 o' clock, anything before that I felt posed too big a risk of being spotted.

"Donny'll know!" Mikey carried on, turning to him expectingly. "Hey Don! How would you drop out of the sky in a rabbit suit like that?"

Don didn't answer. He was still staring at the TV with a deep frown on his face.

Mikey blinked at him. "Hey. Yo! Donatello!"

Donny started and turned to stare at him. "Huhwhat?"

Mikey gave him a smirk. "Dude, try staying on Earth for like, more than an hour for once."

I smiled. "He asked how would you get into a construction site dressed in a rabbit suit unseen."

Don met me with a rather serious stare. "I was just wondering the same thing."

My smile dropped and I sat up a little straighter. "Is something wrong?"

Mikey and Raph both turned to look at him, keeping silent.

"Well, Not exactly but I was just thinking." Don said, putting his chin to his hand. "It sounds a little suspicious to me. I know the news said it was just PETA up to their old tricks again but..."

I frowned at him. "What are you getting at Don?"

"Think about it Leo." he said, turning back to look at me. "A rabbit, in a kimono, falling out of the sky?"

Something in my head clicked and I gaped at him. "You don't think..?!"

He nodded at me. "I think maybe our friend Usagi is in trouble."

"Usagi?" Raph said skeptically. "He's always warped straight here whenever he decided ta drop in on us, not in the middle of downtown! He ain't really the type to make a mistake like that."

"Maybe he took a wrong turn at Albequoiky" Mikey said.

Raph's hand whipped out and smacked him on the back of the head.

"Maybe not, but Don's got a point." I answered Raph's question. "it's too big a coincidence not to look into."

I got up and checked the time once again. 7:47. Close enough.

"Prospect Heights is a large neighbourhood Leo, How're we gonna find him? If it even _is_ him?" Donny asked, getting up himself.

"We start at the construction site and work our way from there." I said. "Get the battleshell ready guys, we'll take the bridge into Brooklyn."

"Woohoo! Road trip!" Mikey rolled back on the couch before pushing himself off of it and on his feet as if he had a spring for a spine or something.

"Yeah but I'm driving!" Raph called quickly, as he got up too. "Last time we let you behind the wheel we almost got pulled over."

Donny trotted in the direction of his converted subway car, probably to get his bag. As Raph and Mikey made their way to the service elevator I went to tell Master Splinter we were leaving. An uncomfortable tightness had settled in my stomach. Despite it being unliley I was still worried the news report was indeed about Usagi. I'd never known the Samurai to make a mistake like opening a portal to the wrong place, but then I didn't know much on how the whole portal thing worked. Perhaps in his own way Mikey had been right and Usagi'd taken a wrong turn somehow somewhere. Whatever the reason though, I was very worried. The fact that the report had been part of the lighter side of the news was a relief. It meant that Usagi, if it was him, had been able to avoid getting caught. But this meant he was probably hiding out somewhere in Brooklyn. if he had warped himself back to his own dimension he'd have warped straight to our lair to tell us what happened. I felt a deep pang of sympathy at the thought of him lost in the city. I knew he had the sense to stay out of sight, but there was such a difference between his world and modern New York I could hardly imagine what he'd do all by himself in this place. There are so many things he doesn't understand of our world and should he get on the wrong side of a car, or a subway train... I shuddered to think about it.

Of course there was the possibility that it wasn't Usagi at all and it really was a strange coincidence, but I told myself if we didn't find anything tonight that I was gonna ask Master Splinter if we could open the portal to the Battle Nexus and try and contact Usagi through there to make sure he's alright. Maybe that's a little bit of paranoid behaviour on my end, but I couldn't help it. He was my friend. Besides, we rarely had a chance to speak to each other and at the very least this could be an excuse to hang out again.

There was one other thing bothering me though. I could buy the fact that maybe Usagi had merely lost his bearings a little trying to get to our lair, but I was concerned that there could be another reason for him to be so reckless. I hoped nothing'd happened in his dimension. I knew that, just like us, he had terrible enemies whose influences spread very far. Unlike us however, Usagi was often involved with the politics of his world. He didn't talk about himself much and I didn't feel right prying into what could be personal business, but what I did know was that he often involved himself with missions and even battles for a province or a lord. When I was in his dimension for a brief time during the whole mess with Draco, I had the pleasure of meeting a particularly aggressive Daimyo, Lord Hebi. It wouldn't be very far-fetched to think the snake might've pulled a move that had endangered our friend and he had to run, or something like that. But Now I was just letting my concern get the better of me. If it _was_ Usagi and we found him, he can tell us himself what's going on. ....If he's ok...

xxxxx

_Author's note:_

_Dun dun duuuuun~_


	3. The White Rabbit

_I do not own TMNT or Usagi Yojimbo. Also, I have never been to New York so please forgive any strangeness I might write regarding the city as I can only go on what I've read and can find online._

_**xxxxx**_

I don't think we've gotten out this early before. Well ok we have but it's been a while. I guess the news report's really made Leo twitchy if he's jumping the gun like this. Not that I'm complaining! Hell no! I've been wanting to get outside all evening. I need to stretch my legs and get some blood flowing. 'Course it's kinda bullshit the early night comes at Usagi's expense. Don't really know the guy that well personally, but Leo likes him and he's saved our butts more than once. He's alright by me. Even if the whole "honourable Samurai" shtick makes me wanna yack after a while.

However if I didn't know any better I'd say he's more ninja than samurai! We've been out here for hours looking for him! Eventually Leo told us to split up; Mikey doing a sewer run, Donny scouting out from the rooftops around the construction yard, Leo checking out the Waterfront and me left to run around like an idiot on street-level. I didn't see the point as Usagi wouldn't be dumb enough to go walking down the sidewalk if you know what I mean. Also, there weren't a lot of alleys and hiding places in this part of Brooklyn. It kinda bugged me. I feel better downtown where the buildings are big and there are lots of places to hide. On the other hand I guess bunny-boy would be more freaked out if he got lost there, I dunno. The whole thing is just a big mess.

I'd been running down the street when I noticed the park and skidded to a stop. Now if I were an old-school warrior fresh from Feudal Japan a park with trees and grass is exactly what I'd head for! I turned and made my way towards it.

Prospect Park is pretty ok as far as parks go, but we generally stayed away from them as parks mean people. There are always tourists, joggers, families and all kinds of people wandering around. Probably not any more than there are on the streets, but with the only cover being trees and some bushes it's not somewhere you wanna be caught wandering around. Prospect Park wasn't nearly as big as Central Park but it was on the larger scale. Mostly made up of trees but it also had two meadows and a small lake. Not bad for a city park.

It was pretty late by now. I dunno what time exactly, I don't wear a watch, but whatever time it was it was late enough for the park to be pretty deserted except for a few bums and some stray cats. I tried to stay hidden anyway in case someone more observant was hanging around. After climbing the first big tree I could find and staying above ground as much as I could, I started scoping out the ground below me as I moved from branch to branch. No sign of any 5 foot rabbit anywhere, I couldn't help but grumble at this. Jumping around treetops was not exactly my idea of a good time. I'd wanted to get out and clobber a few heads not play hide and seek! Getting out was my way of blowing off steam and trying to find someone with no success was very frustrating. I know we're supposed to be looking for Usagi but I swear, if I see so much as a pick-pocket I'm jumping in and doing some damage.

I sat still for a few moments to access my shell-cell's headset.

"Anyone find this guy yet?"

"_Nothing around the construction yard, but I'll keep looking," _Don's voice spoke in my ear.

"_Nothing in the sewers,"_ Mikey's added.

I heard Leo's voice give a sigh, _"Nothing along the waterfront."_

I pulled a face. I didn't want Leo to hear how useless I thought this was. Normally I wouldn't care but he sounded down already and I know he's worried. I didn't wanna push him or something ugly would come of it. But I didn't wanna run around all night either.

"How long are we gonna keep doing this?! I haven't found so much as a footprint and we can't do this all night!"

"_Come on Raph! Usagi's lost out here, we can't just forget about him!"_ Mikey piped up; concern heavy in his voice.

I rolled my eyes. Mikey was so deluded sometimes with his whole 'Bleeding-heart' attitude. I didn't say anything though, instead I waited to hear what Leo thinks cause he's gonna have the last say.

There was a pause before he spoke up.

"_Let's keep searching for another hour. If we don't find anything we'll call it a night and head home."_

"_But Leo..."_ Mikey whined

"_Once we get home I'll see if we can get a hold of the Battle Nexus and get in contact with him through that to see if he's ok; but Raph's right, we can't keep running around till daybreak."_

"_I'm gonna scope the perimeter of the yard then if that's ok. I can honestly say he's nowhere in the yard itself."_

"_Alright Don, you do that. Where are you Mike?"_

"_Dude where do you think? I'm underground!"_

"_Yes, but where Mikey?"_

"_Uhm.... I'm close to the sea-drain on the South side."_

"_Alright, keep looking. What about you Raph?"_

"Prospect Park."

"_Ok. Keep searching and we'll contact each other again in an hour."_

"_Ten-four!"_

"_Okedokee!"_

"Whatever." I hung up and put the headset away.

I kept going, heading for the lake. I stuck to the trees and avoided the meadows, going down the Peninsula till I reached the water. I climbed down from the tree I was in and took a look around. I didn't think he'd hide under one of the bridges cause the bums used those for shelter when the water was low, and when the water was high there'd be nowhere to shelter. I made a noise in the back of my throat. Prospect Park was a big place and I hadn't covered all of it, but a lot of it was kinda public and no place to be hiding out. The area around the lake was mostly wooded apart from the few paths that led to it; and of course, it's water right? Everybody gets thirsty and if he'd gotten hurt he'd have to clean his wounds.

I stopped that line of thought immediately. Me and Usagi ain't exactly close but I didn't like the idea of him being injured. I dunno why but the idea of him getting hurt by something in _our_ city bugged me, almost like it made us responsible for it somehow. I dunno. It wouldn't be our fault I know that, but it just didn't seem right.

I suddenly felt kinda ashamed for being so pissy about looking for the guy. I mean if it were me or one of my bros lost in _his_ dimension he'd come after us in a heartbeat, and here I was complaining cause I wanted to go off and have some fun. Jackass.

I started pacing along the edge of the lake, looking around for any hiding places, tracks, or something. I really didn't wanna go home empty handed because Leo'd be hell to live with till he found out what happened to the rabbit and Mikey'd be damn miserable at having failed a friend. I don't like that.

I'd rounded the tip of the peninsula and was about to start going up the other side when I spotted the small land-mass in the centre of the lake creatively named "Duck Island." It was hardly anything. A miniscule island with no more than 4 or 5 trees growing on it and mostly consisting of tangled reeds and thick bushes. There were no bridges connected to it and the only way to reach it was either to use one of the paddle-boats you could hire or to swim. 'Course swimming wasn't allowed in the lake and there was no reason to go to the island, unless you were looking for somewhere to hide.

All the paddle-boats were locked away by park maintenance in case people stole them, and even if they weren't I'd be damned if I ever sink low enough to use one of them. There were little row-boats you could rent too but they were also stored away for the night. No choice but to swim then.

I looked again to make sure nobody was around to hear me before I waded into the water. Holy crap it was cold! I kept going till the water was up to my chest before I started to swim the rest of the way, making sure to keep as silent as possible. I didn't wanna splash around and get any-one's attention. I dove once to cross the rest of the distance underwater to stay out of sight but that turned out to be a bad idea. The water was already muddy and murky, but the fact that it was the middle of the night made it impossible to see anything. I broke the surface again and reluctantly swam the rest of the way, completely in the open for any sucker to spot me. I was starting to wonder if the rabbit would really have risked going out to the small land-mass. Heck, I wasn't even sure he was in the damn park! This was a dumb idea, but it's too late to turn back now.

I reached the island without anyone ratting me out. Getting onto actual land was kinda tricky as the reeds and water-plants were thick and woven. This island wasn't meant for anyone but ducks, geese, and pigeons; it was obvious the park maintenance didn't see any point in clearing the stuff. Maybe some crack-heads would come out here to shoot up away from their yuppie parents or something, but I wasn't even sure they'd see it worth the trouble. There were a lot of other places you could go to get high that didn't involve a midnight swim in a cold lake.

I found an area where I could tear myself through the plants and get up onto the bank. I could feel the uncomfortable itch on my arms and legs from nicks and scratches caused by the foliage. On top of this I was freezing and really getting sick of this little game. I was in a very bad mood. I didn't even wanna run around and have fun anymore. I just wanted to get home, take a shower, and watch some TV or something.

I looked around the small island. The trees and undergrowth made it so you couldn't see the other side of it from here, forcing me to wander in between the patch of trees. I took a few steps deeper before stopping and standing still for a moment, listening for any sounds out of place that could mean someone was close. I could hear the water of the lake lapping at the banks, and the leaves high in the tree as a light wind brushed past me, sending an icy chill over my soaked arms and legs. I made a disgusted noise, there was nobody here. I'd had enough. I was going back and getting the hell out this stupid park and meeting up with the others. This was pointless.

I turned to get back in the frigid water, cold and fed up I slammed a fist against one of the tree trunks as I passed it in aggravation. The tree shivered slightly and I could hear its leaves shake and rustle at the impact. I hadn't even stopped walking when I heard the snap of a branch from somewhere above me. I froze in my tracks and immediately twisted my head in the direction of the noise. I frowned, listening intently. Branches don't break themselves no matter how hard you smacked a tree-trunk. Something must be up there.

I squinted my eyes, trying to discern any strange shadows from the dark branches and twigs. I took a step closer and thought I could see something, but I wasn't sure if it was a figure or just a large bird of some kind. I gritted my teeth, I was in no mood for this.

"Hey! Anyone up there?!"

I thought I saw a shadow move and took another step closer.

There was a swish of a branch and suddenly a black figure was dropping out of the sky right at me. I evaded the sudden attack with a quick jump to the side and turned to face whoever or whatever had decided to try and jump me. No sooner did I do so when I needed to dodge another attack as the figure came at me with a growl. I slid to the side, my hands gripping my sai and pulling them from my belt. This guy meant business, and he was fast. Skilfully fast. I didn't dare strike though.

"Hey! Hang on a second!"

The figure didn't listen and lunged at me again. I saw the glint of steel as I jumped out the way, barely preventing myself from ending up on the wrong side of whatever weapon my attacker was using. At first I thought it was a katana like Leo's but it seemed smaller.

"Look would ya hold it for one second?!"

Another strike but this time I was ready for it and shot out my sai, catching the blade between the prongs and twisting my wrists to lock my weapons around it.

"Hey! I said Hold it! I ain't gonna hurt ya!"

I could feel the attacker yank on his blade, only to find it trapped. Master Splinter once told me that the sai were designed specifically to counter the Japanese katana in combat and they sure were doing their job tonight.

"Cool it will ya?! It's me! Raphael! I ain't here ta hurt ya!"

The attacker tugged on his blade again but less enthusiastically before going still. I could hear him pant slightly before softly saying. "Raphael-san?"

I took a long breath and unlocked my sai, allowing him to take back his weapon.

"I'm guessing that's you, Usagi. Do you have any idea how long I've been out here trying to find you?!"

I couldn't help it. This had been a very frustrating night, and to find Usagi only to have him attack me for my trouble really got under my shell.

I couldn't make out his face in the poor light but now that he was standing still I could make out his basic silhouette and recognised his tied back ears and slender build. I saw him replace the blade he had tried to stab me with at his side before bowing his head to me.

"I apologise my friend. I did not recognise you and mistook you for a threat. I am afraid today's events have me rather strained and I acted rashly."

I gave a sigh with a drawn out noise. This was exactly the overly polite samurai crap that got on my nerves.

"Look, don't sweat it ok? Point is I found ya. We've been combing all of Brooklyn looking for ya, Leo's practically goin' out of his mind."

"I am grateful my friend." I couldn't see it but I heard the relieved smile in his voice. "I was at a loss for what to do in this strange place. I was hoping to try and locate you and your family once it was safe, but I was not sure how I would do this." I saw him tilt his head slightly, "But how did you know I was here?"

"Look it's a long story" I waved the issue aside. "I'll explain it later, right now we gotta let the others know you're ok and then get back to the lair," I stopped. "You are ok right?"

He nodded. "I am not badly hurt."

I frowned at this, "not badly hurt" was code for 'I'm hurt but I'll be alright'. Usagi was made of tough stuff though and I decided not to bring it up. Instead, I nodded before pulling out my shell-cell. Waterproofing these things was one of the smartest things Donny ever did.

I opened it and called Leo.

"_Raph. Any luck?"_

"Yeah, I got him." I answered. "We're still in Prospect Park, d'you wanna meet us or should we head for the Battle shell?"

I could almost hear Leo's shoulders drop in relief. _"Better head for the Battle shell and meet up there; we don't want to risk anybody seeing you guys. Raph... is he ok?"_

I couldn't help but smirk at this slightly; typical Leo, making himself sick with worry.

"He nearly killed me so I think he'll survive."

"_Good to hear. I'll call the others and let them know we're done. Oh and Raph... good job bud."_

I made a noise, feigning disgust but I felt the smile spread on my face anyway. I turned back to the rabbit.

"Alright, let's get out of here and somewhere less wet."

He nodded. I could tell from the angle of his head he was eyeing the shell cell as he did so, probably intrigued by the device. I couldn't remember if he'd seen us use it before or not but I suppose the thing was still pretty weird to him either way.

"If we swim from here we'll reach the other side easier and we can make our way out through the trees to the street. The Battle shell ain't that far from there, think you can make it?"

I heard him give a tired sounding chuckle. "You underestimate me Raphael-san."

"Glad ta hear it," I said, turning back to the water, relieved to finally be heading home and more importantly, heading home successfully.

**Xxxxx**

_This chapter was getting too long so it has been split into 2. Next part to be uploaded once I finish writing the chapter after that as I try to stay ahead of myself._

_Thank you Rika24 for BETAing!_


	4. The Bombshell

_I don't own the TMNT or Usagi Yojimbo or any of the characters from their universe. Also, I say again I haven't read past book 7 at the time of writing this so forgive me if I get some facts wrong regarding Usagi's world and his relationship with the characters in them._

**xxxxx**

I was surprised to find the Battle shell waiting for us right at the park entrance. At first I thought some-one had driven it over but when we discovered it was empty I figured Donny must've driven it via remote control to pick us up. I opened the back and ushered the rabbit inside before following him and closing the doors behind me. I moved to the front to switch on the internal lights. Once they were on I turned to face Usagi again who was looking around at the controls against the walls of the van.

While he was checking out the tech I gave him a once over.

Well, first of all he was wet thanks to the lake. I realised how lucky I was compared to him when it came to that. I was still wet myself but I'd dry in a short while, but he was soaked to the bone, his robes sticking to him and hanging heavily. On top of that his fur was waterlogged and clung tightly to him, making him look half his usual size and kinda skinny. I noticed the water-plants had left a few rips on the seams of his _hakama_ around his ankles. He'd tied back his sleeves keeping them intact but the silk on his kimono was dirty despite the dip in the water and I noticed some recent damage done to the material. He'd obviously been through a lot before I found him, despite it though he was still holding himself with confidence. I took it as a good sign as I was still kinda worried he was more hurt than he was letting on. I didn't see cuts but I had no idea about bruises, his fur covered any that were there. Despite his posture I could tell he was completely exhausted. Perhaps too much so. I didn't think being in New York for less than a full day would get any-one this bad no matter where you were from. I wondered what had happened before he warped here.

"You look like hell," I said eventually.

He blinked and turned to look at me for a moment before he smiled embarrassedly.

"I apologise for my haggard appearance. Today has been... rather distressing."

I shook my head. "That ain't what I meant."

I nodded in the direction of a chair, sitting down in one of the others. "What happened man?"

He sat down as well. "Fortunately not much. The only time I was seen by these _saru_ who inhabit your world was when I first arrived. I have managed to stay out of sight since then. I landed rather hard when I fell but I do not think it is a cause for concern."

I crossed my arms and glared at him "You ain't hearing me Usagi. You're more than just beat up, ya look like you haven't slept in days," I softened my expression. "What're you doin' here? You in trouble?"

His whole demeanour changed. His shoulders tensed and I saw him clench his fists tightly as his eyes became hard-set. I couldn't help tensing up slightly myself. Whatever was going on it must be serious, but what bugged me even more than his reaction was the fact that he didn't say anything. He didn't even bother answering my questions and that was disturbing to me. I mean I didn't take offence or anything but not answering a direct question is something I'm sure he'd consider to be rude. The whole Samurai gig and its code of honour was serious stuff in his dimension, he wouldn't just ignore me on purpose.

I was about to say something else to him when the back doors to the Battle shell were thrown open noisily.

"The fun has arrived! Thank you, thank you very much!"

I stared in disbelief as Mikey stood framed in the van's doors with his arms thrown out. I didn't doubt he really did expect a round of applause at his arrival. After a moment of recovery I sank into my seat and grimaced. "Mikey would ya get in here before ya wake up the whole neighbourhood?!"

He gave me a sickening grin as he clambered into the van and closed the doors. He then turned and came over, his eyes on Usagi.

"So how're you doing ladies? Every-one ok?"

I gave Usagi a glance but whatever had gotten him worked up seemed to either have passed or he was hiding it. Most likely the latter. He was watching Mikey as my younger bro came over to inspect him, not showing any thought for concepts like personal space.

Luckily Usagi has a lot more patience than me.

"Hello again Mikey-kun," He said, leaning back a little.

Mikey looked him over as if searching for something before lifting his head up to blink at him.

"Dude. You're soaking wet."

I got up out of my chair, moving closer to drag him out of the rabbit's face. Mikey obviously noticed because he backed off and quickly hurried to claim the van's passenger seat.

I gave him a threatening look before sitting down again.

I'd hardly done so when the doors opened again and Leo appeared with Donny right on his heels. Don gave a warm smile upon seeing the three of us. Leo however looked far from happy. He immediately stepped inside and came over, gaze locked on the rabbit."Usagi-san."

Usagi got to his feet and gave Leo a genuine smile and an acknowledging nod.

"_Hisashiburi _Leonardo-san" He greeted him, stating how they hadn't seen each other in a while.

Leo mirrored both me and Mikey and gave the rabbit a once over. "You're not hurt are you?"

Usagi shook his head. "a Bit bruised perhaps but I am unharmed. Although I admit I am very relieved to see you and your brothers. I was at a loss as how I was going to contact you once I realised where I had ended up."

Leo smiled, visibly relieved at hearing his friend was ok.

"Your rather dramatic appearance made it on the news. Luckily no-one thought much about it but after hearing the description we figured you'd tried to open a portal in our lair and had gotten lost or something."

I saw the smile on Usagi's face flicker very slightly at this. "I'm afraid it is a little more complicated than that."

"What happened?" Mikey asked. He was sitting backwards on the passenger seat so he could face us.

"Let's get home first Mikey, then Usagi can fill us in." Donny said, walking over to the driver's seat next to him.

"No. No it's alright." Usagi said. "I think it's better if I explain things quickly."

My frown deepened. I didn't like the sound of that at all, especially not considering how he acted earlier when I asked him about it.

"Are you sure?" Leo asked. "It won't take long to reach the lair and you can dry off and tell us what's going on."

Usagi shook his head again. "No. I would rather tell you now. I will explain the details later but it is important you know what's happening. Please Leonardo-san." His expression changed, again I saw the obvious distress on his face and his whole 'proud warrior' visage all but disappear. "Please. It is critical you know why I am here."

His tone was almost pleading. Leo was staring at him rather wide-eyed. My guess was seeing Usagi sounding so desperate was weirding him out. I knew Leo admired not only the rabbit's skill in combat but also his uncompromising attitude. Seeing him look so hopeless and being so forward was not exactly how we tend to think of the guy. At least I don't and I'm pretty sure neither did Leo.

He finally nodded. "Ok. If you're sure."

Usagi sighed and sunk slightly in relief. "Thank you."

He straightened himself up again and regained his composure, turning to face all of us.

"The truth is I hadn't meant to come to your dimension. I hadn't meant to cross dimensions at all. The portal that opened over your city was not created by me. I was chasing after a _bakemono_. A terrible demon. We were enjoying a period of peace and had taken the opportunity to enjoy some simplicity in life when it appeared and attacked us unprovoked. I drew my sword and was prepared to face it but its purpose was not to fight me."

I saw him clench his fists again as he spoke. His tone of voice started sounding bitter, almost angry. None of us dared interrupt. Even loudmouth Mikey was keeping his trap shut, drawn in by the story.

Usagi continued.

"He was not there to fight. I lunged at him expecting him to try and strike me but instead he passed me by and in doing so managed to take something immeasurably precious. He knew I would expect it to attack me directly and used that to its advantage, catching me off guard. I couldn't imagine it's true goal until it was too late."

He paused for a moment, gritting his teeth before he went on again.

"I tried to stop him but I was no longer his concern. He opened a portal to make his escape. I had no way of tracking him once he left and I was terrified I would never find him again, so I followed after, not knowing where he had planned to warp to. But it wasn't important. All I could think was to follow and as soon as I was able to reclaim that which he had stolen from me."

Again he paused, a little longer this time. He squeezed his eyes shut tight for a moment before going on. I pulled a face slightly. He was getting kinda emotional.

"When I exited the portal however, I had lost all sight of him. I... I tried to search the immediate area around where I was transported but I found no signs that this monster had been anywhere near there. I wanted to look further out but... but I soon realised that I had landed in your city and I remembered what you had taught me of the _saru_ creatures and staying out of sight, so I was not able to look as thoroughly as I needed and had no-one I could ask if they had seen the wretched creature."

He turned to stare at Leo again with the same imploring expression as before. I was starting to get a little freaked out. I'd never seen the guy this worked up before.

"Leonardo-san, Forgive my discourtesy in asking this but I have no-one I can turn to. I desperately need your help. I do not know what to do! I do not even know if the creature is in your dimension but I simply must find it! It is imperative! So I beg you...."

"Hey hey hey," Leo put his hands up, cutting him off. "No. No you don't Usagi. We'll help you, of course we'll help you! We would even if you didn't asked."

"What on Earth makes you think you'd need to beg?" Donny smiled caringly, nodding in agreement.

I found myself giving a nod as well. "What they said."

"All for one and one for all!" Mikey called out, giving the rabbit a thumbs-up.

Usagi let out a shaky breath and smiled, looking so relieved I thought he was gonna cry. Now there's a disturbing mental image I didn't need.

He gave us an quick bow.

"_Domo arigatou gozaimasu._ I do not know how I can express my gratitude my friends."

"Stop bowin' for one!" I blurted out. I didn't mean to but I can only take so much politeness in one day.

Leo gave me a dark look but Usagi seemed to take it as a joke, straightening again.

"I do not know what I would do without you." He said.

Man he was really getting choked up. This was getting uncomfortable.

"Hey Usagi!" Mikey called, distracting him from his swelling emotions. "What exactly did this guy take? I mean I know it's like super super important, but what is it exactly?"

The rest of us turned to look at the rabbit as well. We were all as curious as Mikey I guess.

Usagi hesitated for a moment. He bit his lip and lowered his head in thought, tensing slightly.

He gave his head a slight shake, more to himself than to us before he took a deep breath, looking up and meeting our gazes once again.

"My son..."

**xxxxx**

_btw I don't own Usagi's son either ;)_


	5. An Awkward Confession

_I do not own TMNT or Usagi Yojimbo_

**Xxxxx**

The lair was silent, but it wasn't the silence of an empty house. This was the heavy anxious silence where no-one was daring to speak. We were all watching Usagi as he sat on the couch, quietly drinking from one of Master Splinter's traditional tea-cups, Mike sitting on his right and me on his left. The smell of ginseng hung thick in the air, adding to the almost suffocating atmosphere. I'm sure the others had as many questions as I did, but the samurai had been through so much and I myself didn't feel right pushing him any further right now. I was sure my brothers felt the same way as I did. As for Master Splinter, he was merely sitting silently, patiently waiting for Usagi to finish his tea. He was the only one of us who wasn't staring at the samurai.

After the bombshell he dropped on us when we first regrouped in the Battle shell I was dying to ask him, oh I don't know, hundreds of things! Usagi had a son? When did this happen? Who with? Has he completed his _musha shugyō_, his warrior's travels? Has he settled down, taken a wife and started a family? What is his son like? Did he have any other children? How old was the boy? What was his name? I was holding back so many questions I was afraid I was going to burst! I know that that's technically impossible but it's a good way to describe my impatience.

But after Usagi had told us the news that the thing this "monster" had stolen was in fact his son and once we'd gotten over our initial shock Leo immediately stepped in and said we would discuss the rest of the matter once we got home. Mikey was so close to saying something about this but one look from Leo was enough to make him keep quiet. I was the one who drove us home so I couldn't give my full attention to what was being said behind me in the van but from what I could tell the conversation was mostly Raph explaining to Leo where he had found our friend and what had happened between then and now. Apart from that not much was said between any of us really. Usagi himself had remained silent the entire trip, so much so that I was getting worried about him. Usually when Usagi came over you couldn't shut him and Leo up! It was unnerving to hear neither of them say anything. I understood Leo's reasoning behind telling us to drop the subject though. Suddenly this was no longer a matter of our friend being in trouble and fighting an enemy. This was a family matter, and what's more there was a child involved. On top of _that_ it wasn't just any child, it was a blood relative. The weight of the matter had suddenly become almost overbearing and I knew Leo didn't want us to add to our friend's trauma by immediately asking him too many questions when he was still wet, tired and stressed out of his mind.

When we got home Mikey showed him to the bathroom to dry off while Leo and Raph went to tell Master Splinter what had happened. I was left hovering around which I wasn't too happy about. I wanted to help in some way but I wasn't sure what I could do. Eventually I went to the kitchen and decided to make some tea. It sounds a little silly but somehow the idea that a cup of tea fixes most problems had been imprinted on us for most of our lives. I have a lot of memories where I had been hurt or upset and Master Splinter had given me a warm cup of tea to make me feel better along with some kind words and a warm hand on my head. These memories were all comforting, so I was hoping the drink might have the same effect for the samurai. He was handling himself quietly and was being reserved with his feelings but I can only imagine what he must be going though. When he'd managed to dry himself off as much as possible me and Mikey ushered him to the couch where we put the tea in his hands and a blanket on his shoulder. Master Splinter appeared along with Leo and Raph and welcomed him to our home, giving him assurance we'd give him whatever help we could. He thanked us wholeheartedly and since then we've been sitting close by, waiting to hear if he would tell us more about his story from earlier.

So far he's been silent though. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Mikey was getting fidgety, shifting his weight every few moments before he started jiggling his leg up and down causing the couch to shake very slightly. Any minute now he was either gonna blurt something out or burst a blood vessel in anticipation. His wiggling was making me seasick though, and I ended up being the one to break the silence.

"Mikey would you sit still please? You're making the whole couch shake."

"Sorry," He said and stopped.

Usagi lifted the cup a little higher to drink the last of the tea before he lowered it with a sigh. He then turned and handed it to me with a grateful smile.

"Thank you Donatello-san."

I nodded, taking the empty cup and getting up to put it in the kitchen.

"Refill?" I asked.

He shook his head. "No thank you. I do not think I could stomach any more."

I wasn't sure whether to feel hurt about this or not. My expression must've given my thoughts away because he quickly added: "It was a great comfort my friend but I am so tense to the point of feeling ill. I honestly do not dare drink any more."

I sunk slightly and nodded. My heart bled for him, it really did.

"It'll be ok Usagi," a surprisingly soft-voiced Mikey said from the other side of the couch.

I saw Raph give him a sideways glance, as if to tell him to drop the subject. Usagi however seemed ok to talk about it.

He turned to look at Mike. "I wish I could share you're optimism Mikey-kun," He gave a heavy sigh.

"Honestly, I do not know what I am going to do. I am terrified for him. He is so very young and I do not even know where he is..."

I sat down again, the tea-cup still resting in my hands. I knew I should probably go rinse it out but somehow I couldn't make myself leave the room.

"Usagi," Leo said after a rather uncomfortably long pause. "I don't mean to be insensitive, but I gotta tell you I'm shocked to hear you have a son at all. You've never told us about him before."

I looked at Leo quietly. Was it my imagination or did he seems a little bit hurt? Maybe he was unhappy that Usagi didn't let him know about this sooner. I wasn't sure though. It may just be me reading into things too deeply or something.

Usagi lifted his head to look at Leo who was standing next to the arm-chair where Master Splinter was sitting. Sensei hadn't said anything yet, but he was watching the conversation closely with his sharp eyes.

Usagi managed a sheepish, sideways smile. "To be honest Leonardo-san, it has been a recent development. I do not think I have seen you since it has happened."

"Hey wait a minute!" Raph suddenly said, rather loudly. "Are you tellin' me this scum-bag snatched a _baby_ from ya?!"

"Geez Raph, calm down!" Mikey said, jarred by the sudden outburst.

"I won't calm down! That's the biggest load a' crap I've ever heard!" He got up sharply. "What kinda monster kidnaps an _infant?! _That's sick!!"

"Raphael" Master Splinter spoke up, instantly causing Raph to go silent. "Raphael. I understand your disgust, but I do not think you are taking our guest's feelings into consideration."

Raph made a noise and dropped his shoulders, suddenly looking ashamed. He sat back down and crossed his arms, still very agitated but keeping quiet.

Again we fell silent, each of us lost in our own thoughts.

After a while Usagi spoke up, but he sounded almost reluctant to do so. "He is not an infant."

I turned to look at him. Now I was confused. "He's not?"

Usagi shook his head. He wasn't looking at me as he spoke "He is already approaching 10 years of age."

"I'm confused." Leo voiced my thoughts. "You said this was a recent development didn't you?"

Usagi nodded but rather stiffly, avoiding Leo's gaze as he slowly tensed up again. "It is. Last time we spoke I had not known of him yet. I have only recently become involved in the situation..."

The silence that followed was threatening to choke me. Leo was staring at the samurai in such disbelief I would've burst out laughing if I wasn't just as shocked.

Usagi sank a little in the seat as if wishing the couch would swallow him. If his fur didn't mask his skin he would've been bright red, that's for sure. As it was I could feel my _own _cheeks flaring up as what Usagi was insinuating became clearer and clearer in my mind. I couldn't help thinking to myself; 'He's so much more adult and complicated than we are.'.

"Ooooh! I get it!" Mikey broke the silence. "You mean you didn't know you'd-"

Raph's hand flew out so fast to wrap around Mike's mouth he nearly threw himself off balance.

Usagi was avoiding every-one's eyes, staring at his knees instead. He was biting down on his bottom lip, rather hard. I watched him silently although I was aware my eyes were probably wider than they should be. I could still feel the hot prickling of blood in my cheeks too. My brothers sometimes teased me for how easily I blushed. Raph once went so far as to say I'm worse than a girl but a few 'argumentative taps' from my bo made him change his mind. I was trying to suppress it right now though. Usagi really seemed upset about this and I had a feeling telling us this little bit of information was one of the things he probably wished he'd never have had to do.

As far as I know Usagi's dimension was pretty much an alternative past of our own world. It supports an interesting theory I've recently been reading about on how dimensions branch off from every decision we make in life. Every possible choice we would be able to make in a situation happens in a number of different alternative universes right at that moment, and then those dimensions continue along their destined paths until they each reach a point where our alternative selves need to make another choice and then those branches create branches of their own. In short this basically means every single possibility that could ever exist probably already does in an alternative dimension somewhere. I believe Usagi's dimension is one of these branches where animals had evolved into sentient beings because no human race was ever created or something like that. But despite the absence of the human race his dimension still mirrored the feudal Japan of our dimension's history. I found the whole business fascinating. I really wished that I could some day visit his dimension myself to see what it was like first hand.

However if I was going to do so I should really brush up on my knowledge of early 17th century Japan. Like this whole situation right now. Usagi was obviously very reluctant to tell us of this... rather personal issue, but I didn't even know how an illegitimacy is seen in Feudal Japan in _our_ dimension's past. Samurai are higher class than mere commoners, so was it not really a big deal and it's merely Usagi's personality making him so ashamed about it? Or was it really something that was heavily frowned upon? I didn't know and I hate not knowing things! I would seriously need to research that once I had the time.

"Hello! Earth to Donatello!!"

The loud voice derailed my train of thought and I started slightly.

"Huh?!"

I was a little alarmed to see every-one was staring at me expectingly. Darn it! They'd asked me a question and I hadn't heard it! I really need to learn not to drift off like that.

Mikey gave a rather obnoxious chuckle at my expense. I frowned at him, feeling both embarrassed and annoyed.

"We were wondering Don, Usagi said he lost track of this demon and... uhm.. his son, while travelling through the portal tunnel. How or why would that happen? Do you have any ideas?" Leo patiently repeated for me.

I ignored Mikey to answer him, eager to help. Answering questions and finding answers was my way of doing what I can in these types of situations and I was eager to do something other than carry tea around.

"Well, Portals in themselves are a bit of a mystery to begin with. We're not even sure what they are to be honest. They could be worm-holes or even a type of black-hole or perhaps they're something else entirely. We don't know yet and there's not a lot of information on the subject. And because we don't know what they are exactly we don't really know how they work. It's possible they're just a straight "tunnel" from one point to another enabling us to travel between dimensions, or time periods or great distances, but there's the possibility that if you knew how you could open a kind of side-tunnel while in mid-warp to change your direction, but then whose to say that warps are just tunnels to begin with? Maybe they already have thousands of branching paths and when we warp we just tend to pass them. Or it could kinda work like a bus stop where, instead of getting off at the 'end of the line' you can get off at an earlier stop and end up somewhere different. The truth is there're endless possibilities. We may never know everything there is to know about portals and how they work."

I finished my little lecture and looked around at the faces in the room to see if they got all of that. I often had trouble putting my thoughts into words and can sometimes confuse my family with what I say. I didn't think they understood everything but they seemed to get the basics of it. However my little explanation seemed to have depressed them.

"Donatello-san" Usagi said next to me. I turned to look at him and found him staring right at me, his salmon-coloured eyes so intensely focused I almost felt like I was under scrutiny. I adjusted how I was sitting slightly, but I kept my eyes on his.

"Would you be able to determine for certain where this creature might have gone?" He asked me.

I couldn't stop myself from blinking, immediately giving away that regardless of what answer I gave the truth was I wasn't sure.

"It's possible to scan the city for any strange energy fluxes, but it'd take some time to cover everything. I could go to the place you warped to yourself and see if there's something like a kinetic energy trail we could follow or something," I said.

Usagi blinked before he sighed and broke his gaze, staring straight ahead of himself instead "But you have no concrete method of tracking them."

The statement made me flinch slightly, but he was right. There was really no easy way for me to find the kidnapper for him. I wish I could do something more than just give him useless theories. I was feeling pretty useless.

A noise caught my attention and I turned to see Master Splinter getting up out of the arm-chair. My brothers turned to look at him as well, but it seemed Usagi didn't notice.

"There is much that needs to be done, but before we do any of it we need to stand back and think our course of action through carefully. We should retire for the night and then once we are rested we must discuss what we will do from here. I am sure Miyamoto-san is in need of sleep as well."

Usagi looked up at Master Splinter but said nothing. Sensei gave him a kind smile and an encouraging nod. "You are welcome here Samurai. We will do whatever we can to help, but we must keep our wits sharp and our senses keen. Depriving yourself of sleep will not help the situation."

His face softened slightly and he placed a hand on our friend's shoulder.

"We will find your son Miyamoto-san. This I swear to you."

I saw something in my sensei's eyes flash in a way that almost frightened me. Master Splinter was careful not to fully reveal his emotions, but my brothers and I could usually figure out what he was keeping under the surface. Well, at least up to a point. And right now I could tell, Usagi's situation was hitting a nerve within Master Splinter. It was probably because of us. I'm sure Master Splinter was putting himself in Usagi's place and thinking how he would feel if one of us had been stolen from him when we were still small and helpless. Master Splinter goes ballistic if some-one captures one of us as teenagers! I could only imagine how angry he'd have been if it'd happened to us when we were little kids.

"You are welcome to treat our home as your own." Splinter carried on, stepping back again.

"I'm willing to let him use my room," Leo spoke up. "I can bunk on the couch till we find a better set-up."

Splinter gave a nod in agreement before turning back to Usagi.

"Would you be comfortable with that Miyamoto-san?"

Usagi actually managed a smile. "You offer me kindness as if it is shameful to do so. Truly I am forever in your debt Sensei."

I couldn't help smiling at this myself.

I got up off the couch, still holding the empty teacup. "I'm gonna get a jump on things and do some reading on the theory behind Worm-holes to see if I can find anything useful."

Leo nodded as he reached out a hand to his friend, helping the samurai to his feet. "Alright, but don't overdo it Don. We're gonna need your brain for this and we don't need you going days without sleep again."

I pulled a slight face at him, a little insulted despite knowing he was talking from experience.

"You need anythin' I'm right across the hall," Raph said to Usagi as he passed him to head for his room for the night. He gave him a toothy grin. "I warn ya I'm a heavy sleeper though so you might hafta knock more than once."

"Oh! Before we go to bed! I wanna ask you something!" Mikey said, clambering off the couch to stand next to Usagi.

The Samurai gave Mike a nod, exhausted yet still politely allowing Mikey to keep him up a little longer. "What is it Mikey-kun?"

Mikey was staring at Usagi with wide-eyes, I wasn't sure why but he seemed in awe of the samurai all of a sudden.

"What's your kid's name?"

Usagi stared at him blankly for a few moments, seemingly taken aback by the question. However after a brief moment he snapped out of it and answered softly and with a tone of voice that, for some-reason, threatened to tear my heart out.

"Jotaro."

Mikey frowned slightly and tilted his head at this, seemingly deep in thought. Eventually he nodded.

"Cool. I like it."

He then turned and trotted to his room.

Usagi was watching him go with a puzzled expression, but after a few moments he shook his head softly and merely smiled.

**Xxxxx**

_Some-one mentioned that Leo is acting perhaps a little overboard as far as his concern for Usagi goes. Please let me know what you guys think so I know how to handle him in the next few chapters better._

_BETA thanks goes to Arwing!_


	6. Breakfast

_I don't own TMNT or Usagi Yojimbo_

**Xxxxx**

Man what a night! Crazy stuff am I right? The minute my head hit the pillow I was out. Too much stuff for me to try and deal with all at once. I had some pretty screwed up dreams but then what else is new. At least I got some sleep, I didn't know if the others got any at all.

I woke up the next morning around 7. We usually got up pretty early around here unless some bad stuff went down the night before and we needed extra rest. I wasn't tired so I got up and decided to make some breakfast. I like making breakfast. Donny never gets my eggs the way I like them, Raph's not that good with breakfast foods and Leo, well, Leo's hopeless when it comes to cooking.

I opened the door to my room and looked around outside but it didn't look like any-one else was up yet. I slipped out and carefully snuck across the lair to the kitchen. I gave the couch a quick glance and was happy to see Leo was fast asleep on it. So he'd managed to get some rest after all. I was glad.

I stopped and watched him for a few seconds. He didn't move so he wasn't dreaming, or if he was it was nothing bad. He was using an extra blanket we had which he'd wrapped himself in, not too tightly though since it wasn't that cold yet. He seemed warm enough and quite comfortable so I left him alone and kept going to the kitchen.

No-one was in there which suited me fine. Means I could make what I want and not have some-one back-seat cook. What to make though? Eggs, sure but what else? I mean, we have a guest which is always fun but I had no idea what kinda breakfast he likes. Probably something super sophisticated I had no idea how to make. I shrugged; too bad. He's gonna have to settle for eggs and pancakes. I opened the fridge, suddenly realising I was gonna need a lot of eggs for this. There seemed to be enough though so I just took them all and got to work.

A little while later I had just about finished when Leo stumbled into the kitchen, rubbing an eye. He seemed to have just woken up but he had his mask on so he must've already showered and brushed his teeth. Either that or he skipped it, but knowing Leo I really don't think so. He walked over to the table and dropped himself into a chair.

"'Morning!" I greeted him with a smile.

"Are you sure?" He said, resting his elbows on the table to rub at his face. "Still feels like the middle of the night to me."

I laughed a little at this. "What's the matter Leo? Didn't you sleep well?"

He shook his head. "Not enough. I had trouble falling asleep, I was trying to figure out what the heck we're gonna do next."

I didn't say anything to this, focusing on the eggs and scraping them out of the frying pan and into some plates. I felt bad for Leo but I didn't know what to say so I kept quiet, turning and instead putting his plate in front of him. Maybe some food would make him feel better. I gave him a slight bow.

"Your food sir, and may I suggest looking at the wine list?"

He just gave me a sideways look. Damn, I was hoping that'd get a smile from him. No problemo. I'll get him next time.

I turned and went back to the stove as he started to eat. There wasn't gonna be enough eggs for pancakes too. Oh well.

"How d'you sleep Mike?" Leo asked.

I turned to look over my shoulder at him. "I slept fine!" I said brightly.

Leo nodded, going back to his food.

I finished putting eggs in the remaining 5 plates and piled them on my arms, carefully making my way to the table and putting the plates in various spots. I managed to put everything down without breaking something which was good. I know I shouldn't try carrying everything at once but I hate making two trips for something. I looked up at Leo again. He was kinda quiet, more so than usual I mean.

"Does Usagi like eggs?" I asked as a way to break the silence.

Leo looked up at me again and gave a small shrug. "I dunno."

Well, _that_ conversation went nowhere.

"What do they eat for breakfast where he's from anyway? Rice?" I said instead.

"Yeah." Was all Leo answered.

I didn't know what else I could say. I was obviously talking to myself here.

I sat down and started working on my own plate of eggs. Not bad if I say so myself. Nothing fancy but good food all the same, and I knew the smell would attract the others soon, or at least Raph. I didn't want it getting cold and going to waste. We can't afford to waste any food in this house-hold. Come to think of it:

"D'you think Usagi's gonna eat anything? He seemed kinda uptight last night," I asked Leo.

Leo looked up at this. "I don't know."

I made a noise and sulked a little at this. My food! "He should."

Leo nodded softly. "Yeah."

He sighed and pushed back from the table a little. "He really should. He probably didn't eat anything yesterday at all."

I realised me and Leo were focusing on two different things, and Leo was doing what I should've been doing myself; thinking about a friend.

I felt guilty but I didn't show it.

"Pretty intense stuff enh?" I grinned at him

He gave me a rather disapproving look. I don't like it when he does that.

"I just mean all this... this stuff. Really heavy huh?" I gave a chuckle. "Our lives seem pretty normal right now don't they?"

He nodded. "Mmm."

My smile dropped. I rested my head on my hands, still looking at him.

"What's the matter Leo? You seem kinda down."

He was silent for a few moments, staring off before he shook his head. "I'm just tired."

He was lying, but I let him lie. If he didn't wanna talk about it he didn't wanna talk about it. I knew better than to push him. Best I can do is try to cheer him up and maybe he'll tell me himself a little later.

"You should try to take a nap later or something," I said

Leo nodded, getting up and going to the kettle. "Yeah... yeah that sounds like a good idea."

"I smell eggs!"

I turned to see Raph coming into the kitchen, stretching an arm over his head.

"It's what's for breakfast!" I said happily, giving him a grin.

He came over and sat down, pulling a plate closer and immediately starting to eat. I heard the clink of coffee mugs behind me as the kettle started to heat itself up.

"Bunny-boy up yet?" Raph asked with his mouth full.

"Don't call him that," Leo said irritably.

Raph shrugged and took another spoonful. "Whatever. Is he up yet?"

I shook my head. "Dunno, but I haven't seen 'im yet."

"He's probably gonna sleep in," Leo said, coming back with a mug of coffee in each hand. "I mean he was worn-out last night."

He put the second mug in front of Raph without a word, Raph not even acknowledging him doing so. It was so second nature neither of them were even thinking about the action.

"Poor guy," Raph said plainly. He was being serious though, I could see it.

"Coffee Mikey?" Leo asked.

I pulled a disgusted face and shook my head. "Nu uh."

_Finally_ Leo cracked a smile. "Alright, just checking."

"I'll have some if you're offering," Donny said as he walked into the room.

We turned to look at him as Leo nodded. "Ok," He then frowned lightly but his smile stayed. "Were you up the whole night Don?"

"No," Donny said pulling a face at Leo as he sat down. "Only most of the night."

Leo shook his head as he went back to the kettle.

"Oh like you're one ta talk Leo!" I said, giving him the cheekiest smile I could. "You weren't exactly in bed by 10 yourself you know!"

I heard Raph snicker at this, giving me confidence to tease Leo some more.

Leo turned and gave me a look of mock annoyance, but I had made him smile once again. Hah! Victory! I was getting to him.

"Don't gimme that look you know it's true!" I said sticking my tongue out at him.

"It's way too early for this." Donny said before taking a bite of the eggs.

"Early? It's like 9 in the morning already!" I said, turning my attention to him instead.

"Some-one obviously slept well," He replied.

I was about to say something back when Master Splinter came into the room.

He was carrying the morning paper under one arm. I still have no idea how he gets his hands on it, but to be honest I don't really care. I don't read the paper, not even the comics any more. They weren't as funny as they use to be and the rest of it? Boooooring. Besides I see enough gloom and doom on a daily basis, I don't need to read about it in my free time as well.

"Good morning my sons." He greeted us.

We all gave a nod an a unified "Good morning Sensei" in reply as he sat down in one of the open places at the table.

"Has our guest risen yet?" He asked as he started to eat as well, although with far less vigour than the rest of us. Always refined and well-mannered our sensei.

"No Master Splinter." Leo answered.

"Should we go wake him or something?" I asked.

Master Splinter shook his head. "No. Let him sleep."

I started to work on my eggs again. I looked over to the last empty spot as I finished. I guess he wasn't gonna have breakfast with us after all. Somehow though the idea didn't irritate me as much as it did a few minutes ago.

"So what're we gonna do now?" Raph asked, finish his plate and pushing it away.

"We start by trying to discern if this demon and Miyamoto-san's son is in our city. Once we know this we then must try and locate them. But we begin by looking, asking questions, and listening for any strange rumours," Master Splinter replied.

Donny sat up quickly. "We should scan the police's radio frequencies. And I can also probably hack into their database to find any strange reports or complaints."

Leo nodded. "Good idea Don. Scan their frequencies first, their databases aren't gonna go anywhere but you never know what they might be gossiping about over their radios. We should ask around the vagrant circles if they've seen anything strange anywhere in the city as well. They often see things other's don't and they don't file police reports."

"Which works for us," Raph grinned.

"I think I should speak to them though," Leo said when Raph started to get up. "No offence Raph."

Raph shrugged. "Hey whatever floats your boat."

"We're still gonna need you. I was thinking perhaps you could ask some of the... less co-operative groups of the city some questions about anything strange they might've seen... or done."

Raph gave a wicked laugh and a nod, slapping the table as he got up properly this time. "Now you're talkin' my language bro!"

"Oh! Me, me! What about me?!" I said, bouncing on the chair. I was eager to help. Besides this was something we hardly ever did, a day mission! I'll grab any chance to get out into the sun.

"You stay here and make sure Usagi doesn't run off and do something stupid by himself." Leo said.

I let out a very long, drawn out whine at this. No fair! They got to run around outside and I have to sit home and baby-sit! No fair!

"Don't make that noise Mike. When Usagi wakes up get him to eat something and then the two of you can do a thorough search of the sewers around Brooklyn."

"But I checked them last night!" I moaned. This seriously sucked!

"Last night you were looking for Usagi, now we are looking for clues. Different objectives, different methods Mike. Besides Usagi knows what this demon and his son looks like and'll have a better idea of what to keep an eye out for."

"Jotaro" I said sharply, angry at being cast aside like this.

"What?" Leo said, his own voice starting to sound annoyed.

"Jotaro." I repeated, turning to look at him. "The kid's name is Jotaro. Can we please stop just calling him "Usagi's son"?"

There was a pause before Leo nodded, his voice calmer. "Ok. You're right Mike."

"Michelangelo." Master Splinter spoke up. "I know you are anxious to do your part, but you should not see this task as any less important than the others. He hides it, but Miyamoto-san is almost certainly in great anguish. He has been robbed of his child. I can think of nothing worse." He turned to look at me straight-on. "He is in need of a friend, but he also needs to feel productive in his search. It would be best if we respect his feelings and aid him with emotional support as well as helping him search. Will you not do this?"

I felt my cheeks burn in shame and I nodded dumbly. I couldn't think of anything to say out loud.

Master Splinter turned his gaze away from me and addressed all of us.

"If we are dealing with dimensional shifting, I believe we should ask the Daimyo if he has any knowledge of how two persons may enter the same portal and yet exit through two different means. I will go to him. I may not be back till late tonight, so I urge you not to do anything rashly if you are able to help it. Look after our guest and remain calm and act within reason."

My brothers nodded, I agreed but I didn't say or do anything myself. I could still feel my heart beating harder than usual and the flush in my face from Sensei's reprimanding. I was still irritated at not getting to out with the others but at the same time Master Splinter's lecture had hit me rather hard. I really don't like getting lectured, especially not by him.

My brothers finished their coffee, we cleared away the plates putting the left-over eggs in the fridge and then they all left, each taking a separate route. I remained alone in the lair. I collapsed on the couch and proceeded to sulk now that no-one was around. I knew what Master Splinter said was true and I understood everything he'd said but I still felt like I'd been given a raw deal. It's not that I didn't wanna hang out with Usagi or anything but I felt as if they were all out doing important stuff and I was left to watch the house. What am I a housewife?! So unfair.

**Xxxxx**

_This was the true test for me XD; writing for Mikey._

_The next 2 chapters are a little slow but the story really picks up from there. Just bare with me, and all things in good time._

_P.S. Thank you so much to every-one whose been leaving me comments and feedback~! You're the ones motivating me to keep going! 3_


	7. What Jim Saw

_I don't own TMNT or Usagi Yojimbo. I guess I own Jim but... I'm not sure that's something to be proud of._

**Xxxxx**

I was feeling kinda depressed today and I couldn't really put my finger on why. Mikey had obviously noticed at breakfast but I hadn't want to get into it then. I knew it was Usagi that had triggered it but I wasn't sure what it was exactly. Was it because he hadn't told me he had a kid sooner? I didn't think so. I think it was more the fact that he had a kid to begin with. I couldn't help but feel this put a huge amount of distance between us as friends. I mean we didn't see each other very often but whenever we did I always felt as if there was a level of camaraderie between us. We've never been able to best each other in our sparring matches, but on top of that he was the living embodiment of bushido. And not in a scholar way like I was, no he was more authentic than that. It was something I really admired and I tried to model myself after because I always felt we weren't really that different. But this situation made it painfully clear to me that we had a lot in common perhaps but Usagi was, in reality, so far removed from me in what he did and how he lived his life.

I know our friendship and him being a father aren't really connected in any way but for some reason they'd merged themselves together in my mind. Usagi being old enough to have a child who was more than half my age already might have something to do with it. I've always seen Usagi as an equal but having his adult status rear it's head like that just reminded me that whether I like it or not, I'm still just a kid myself. Ok so maybe that's not giving myself enough credit. I was nearly 18, but even that was a far cry from being an adult, at least to me. The whole deal just made me feel so young and made Usagi seem so much older and more adult which, by default, made him my superior. I always thought we could pass and fall behind each other with our skills and knowledge, but I now faced the realisation that no matter what our skills dictated he was always gonna be older than me and therefore more experienced. And no matter how hard I tried or how much I did in my life that was something I could never best him at. He was always gonna have that experience and maturity over me.

Then again perhaps I was just moody from not enough sleep and being a little stressed by this whole situation. Maybe it was because I was use to being the oldest of my brothers who have all been my rivals my whole life. We all pushed each other and tried to out-do each other and we knew that we were so close in our level of skill it just required extra effort to be the best among us. But I was always and would always be oldest. Maybe I'm getting a taste of my own medicine. I mean I'm acting as if Usagi's suddenly turned out to be a completely different person than I thought he was! He was still the same guy, nothing has changed.

Yeah. Right. Nothing's changed. Keep telling yourself that Leo.

I stopped my rooftop run for a moment to get my bearings. I shouldn't be thinking so hard when I'm out in the open in broad daylight. I should be focusing on staying out of sight as much as possible. I adjusted my coat and wrapped it tighter around myself.

I was near the East River, heading for an abandoned Warehouse. Supposedly it was set to be demolished but this was only scheduled to happen a few months from now. In the meantime It was left to fall further and further into ruin.

I had spoken to several of the homeless people around the neighbourhood, asking them if they'd seen anything strange recently. This may sound simple but it's actually a lot harder than you'd expect and not only because I'm a 5 foot tall turtle. You had to ask just the right kind of people, the kind who wouldn't loose their cool when you spoke to them but who also were in the right mind and you could honestly believe they saw something strange and didn't just hallucinate due to drugs or a mental problem. So far I've had little success. Even the homeless people who I could speak to without freaking them out and who knew what they were saying couldn't give me any of the answers I was looking for. I had started to become doubtful I would get any answers today at all.

My last resort was to try and get out to Junk Island and speak to the professor to hear if any of his friends had seen anything or if they had heard rumours between themselves. I say last resort because getting out to the island in broad daylight was an extremely dicey thing to do. It was a far swim and any-one would be able to spot me in the open water. I could swim underwater for most of the way but I wouldn't be able to hold my breath for that long and would have to come up for air eventually. On top of that during the day there was a lot of traffic on the water which increased the chances of being spotted, as well as the chances of getting hurt.

But I kept talking to more and more people and continued to not get any answers or leads. I started getting desperate for any sort of information, so much so that the idea of making the swim out to the island was sounding less dangerous all the time. Normally I wouldn't even have considered it an option. It was impulsive, irresponsible and would mean needlessly putting myself in danger in more than one way. Master Splinter specifically told us this morning not to be rash and to think things through while he was gone.

But, every time I tried to convince myself that it was too risky and I should just accept that no-one had seen or heard anything... I pictured myself returning to the lair... and seeing Usagi eagerly waiting... and having to tell him I had found nothing.

The mental image of his hopeful expression crashing in on itself was more than I could bare. He was counting on me. I was _not_ gonna let him down! I refused! I would get the information we needed, whatever it took.

But just as I made this decision I had a stroke of good luck. I had questioned a bag lady who was collecting cans under one of the large bridges in the city. She hadn't seen or heard anything herself, but she told me to go towards the East River's side and look for a man called 'Jim'. She told me Jim was a very private person and didn't like talking to people. Because of this he avoided the other homeless and searched out shelter away from them. This meant he often hid in strange places where other people would be too afraid or cautious to go so it was likely he might've seen something in a strange place. On top of this if he had seen something strange he wouldn't have bothered telling any-one else about it so there wouldn't have been rumours for me to have heard. It was a long shot, but it was the best lead I'd gotten all day. I knew it was unlikely that this Jim had seen anything either, but by this stage I was so eager for info I would follow any clue at all.

So now I found myself heading for the condemned building, all the while keep my eyes and ears open for any-one that might see me for what I really am under my hat and trench-coat. But tluck was on my side for once and I was able to reach the warehouse without any close calls.

The building was closed off with a chain-linked fence, but the steel was rusted and weak. I didn't even need to draw my katana to break a hole in it I could fit through. I caught my coat on the sharp metal and nearly tore it but managed to get myself loose before walking further into the abandoned lot, looking around.

The building itself was practically falling apart. It had been built out of brick which was still holding strong, but the sheet-metal roof had all but blown away and what was left of it was rusted and rotten. The windows were nothing more than gaping holes, every single one's glass had been broken at some stage and by the looks of it, it must've been a while ago. There weren't any traces of glass shards around the area, only the small cubed pieces like you'd see after a car-crash and these were scattered everywhere. I was careful where I walked with my bare feet. Wherever there was a gap in the concrete floor dandelions and other weeds had sprung up but the pollution of the city had completely stunted their growth and turned their leaves and stems a dirty brownish green. Among the debris from the building itself there were the remains of broken beer-bottles, crushed cans, cigarette butts, broken syringes and discarded sexual items I tried to ignore.

The place was eery. I could just about make out the usual sounds of the city somewhere far away; the noise of car horns, the roar of engines, screaming sirens and the voices of over 8 million people going about their lives. Here the noise was muted, it was like being inside a bubble. Dandelion seeds and flecks of rust hung in the air along with the faint scent of cigarette smoke and weed. The sun was past noon already but despite this it was still beating down hard and I was grateful for the large brimmed hat, keeping the glare out of my eyes as well as shielding my skin. Sun-burn was a strange and foreign concept to me to be honest. I've gotten burnt before but believe it or not the first time it happened was just over a year ago at Casey's farm. It wasn't a fun experience and I didn't wanna repeat it.

Everything in me was telling me to leave this place alone. It was too quiet, too much in disarray and just had a threatening atmosphere to it. I can't explain it exactly. I just, I felt it was wrong somehow. Some kind of sixth sense. It didn't feel outright dangerous, but there was something oppressive about it. I swallowed, but I kept going, looking for the man the bag lady called 'Jim'. Would any-one really consider this place to be a good place to shelter? Well, she did say he disliked people, and if you wanted to be by yourself this was certainly the right kind of place to hide out. I didn't want to spend any more time here than I needed to myself.

"Hello?!"

I instantly regretted calling out. My voice sounded booming after the muggy silence and seemed to bounce off the walls of the warehouse and the buildings outside the lot. It felt like every person in the city had heard me.

I frowned at my own nervousness. What's wrong with me? I sound like a little kid who'd gotten lost and was scared of every shadow!

...A little kid who was lost.

I felt my expression harden and I called out again, this time ignoring the uneasy atmosphere.

"Is Any-one here?!"

I listened. Apart from the sudden trill of an insect flying off a blade of grass and into the sky there was nothing. Perhaps Jim had moved on and made camp somewhere else?

"Please!" I called again. "I'm looking for a man named Jim! I was told I could find him here!"

"What do you want of Jim?"

The voice had spoken to my right and I spun to face its direction, startled. A man was inside the ware-house, leaning on the rim of a glass-less window, staring out at me as I stood in the sunlight, my left hand resting on one of my Katanas' handles on instinct.

I don't know what I had been expecting. I guess the nerve-wracking atmosphere had made my imagination kick into over-drive as to what kind of person this Jim could be. But here he was, staring at me with deep-set brown eyes. He was small and thin, or maybe emaciated would be a better word to use. His wrists stuck out from a jacket too small for him that I couldn't even tell the colour of it, it was so dirty. A torn hood from underneath the jacket was draped over his head, his greasy, tangled hair hanging in strings. His face was dirty, lined and unshaven. His fingernails cracked and brown. He didn't look dangerous. As a matter of fact he looked as if I so much as pushed him he's collapse into a bony heap. He was watching me silently, not frightened or intrigued by my appearance. At most he looked annoyed, as if I'd walked in on him having dinner or something.

I let go of my sword's hilt and broke my stance, standing more at ease.

"I need to ask him some questions," I said, keeping my own eyes on the man.

He made a crackling noise and grimaced at me.

"I don't appreciate folks dropping in unannounced. Let alone lookin' for me by name."

"I'm not here to cause trouble," I said, keeping my tone of voice even and business-like. "I'm looking for information and I was told you might be able to help me."

Jim pushed himself away from the window. "Go home kid. I ain't got nothin' for ya."

"Wait!" I said, a little more anxiously than I meant to. "Please. I need your help."

He stopped and turned back to glare at me. "And what could I possibly tell ya that's so important? I keep ta myself and do my best to keep away from people," He looked me up and down. "As well as anything else that might be in this city."

I took half a step forward but kept myself back. "I need to know if you've seen something strange recently. Specifically yesterday. I'm looking for..." I stopped.

What _was_ I looking for exactly? I creature that could jump dimensions with a young rabbit. Yeah, _that's_ gonna sounds sane.

"I'm looking for something that can appear out of thin air," It wasn't any better an explanation but at least it didn't sound as crazy. Only slightly crazy.

Jim gave me a blank stare. "Somethin' that appears out of thin air..." He repeated in a monotone voice.

I nodded, feeling like an idiot. "Yeah"

Neither of us said anything for a while. Eventually Jim spoke. "Ain't seen nothin' like that."

The tightness in my chest fell with a crash right into my stomach and I felt my shoulder slump. I gave a sigh. "Alright then. Thank you."

I turned, moving to walk away as I felt all the blood drain from my arms and face. What am I gonna tell Usagi?

"At least not Yesterday."

I stopped in my tracks and turned to look at him again. "What?"

He hadn't moved, his eyes still on me. "Ain't seen nuthin' like that yesterday. But a few days ago I saw somethin' strange 'round the Upper West Side."

I turned to face him again, my eyes widening slightly, not daring to hope. "What was it?"

His eyes narrowed. I could tell I was outstaying my welcome but I wasn't leaving now. Not until he told me what he'd seen.

"Please," I said, taking a step towards him. "There's a kid whose in danger! Tell me what you saw!"

This sentence didn't trigger the emotional response I was hoping for. He merely continued to stare at me. I was starting to get angry. This man's pure lack of empathy had started to tip the scale. I could tolerate a difficult person who needed persuading to talk but to have some-one not show any hint of emotion at hearing a child may be in danger and depending on what they know I found both disturbing as well as disgusting. But if this was the game he wanted to play then so be it.

I widened my stance. "I'm not leaving until you tell me."

There was a tense moment in which neither of us moved or said anything. Jim was watching me with clear disdain. I glared at him, crossing my arms. I had no intention of going anywhere.

Jim made a growling noise before he turned his head and spat irritably. "'Bout three days ago I was in the Upper West Side 'round the Park. Middle of the night. Don' normally go that way but I was hungry. 'bout halfway through I saw this blue light an' this weird glowin' circle appeared," He raised a hand and twirled a finger in the shape of a ring. "Like a donut, but the middle had this black circle. This guy walked out of it."

I blinked. "a Man?"

He nodded. "a Man. Tall guy with a clean face. Wore a suit an' tie."

"Black?" I guessed, my hands clenching into fists.

"Nah." He said. "Blue suit. Red tie."

I relaxed my hand, but only slightly. "Could you see any distinguishing marks or anything?"

Jim's face hardened but he kept talking. "Hair short, blondish-brown I think, it was hard ta see. Thin guy. He looked kinda young. Maybe 30. He stepped outta the circle like it was a damn door. The thing shrank and disappeared. He looked aroun' then turned and walked away like nothin' happened."

I could feel my heart start to race. "Which direction was he heading?"

"The hell should I know?" Jim hissed at me. "It was dark an' the middle of the park. I wasn't gonna go up and ask the guy. Best thing ta do was pretend it didn' happen."

I nodded. It was a pity he didn't see where the man was heading but it was a lead. Perhaps not the best lead but it was enough to get us going at least. I gave Jim a hasty nod. "Thank you."

I turned and started to walk away but couldn't keep my pace and soon broke into a run, ignoring the danger of the broken glass and needles. I was so anxious to get home. To get to my brothers and tell them we had a lead, to tell Usagi I'd learned something and to get away from the stagnant warehouse and the hard man who was living there. I pulled my coat tighter around myself as I climbed back out the hole in the fence and headed in the direction of home. As soon as I was near enough I opened the first man-hole I found and dropped down into the cool dampness of the sewers.

----

I trotted into the Lair, pulling off the hat and trench-coat and casually throwing them over one of the railings in our home for now, I would put them away later. I was panting slightly, having run the whole way to expel my pent up frustration and anxiety that had been building up all day and now seemed so trivial and unimportant.

The lair was quiet but I'd expected it to be. Every-one was still out hopefully collecting their own clues and information. I felt almost guilty about not being outside and still trying to gather info myself, but I felt the best thing to do now was wait for the others to get home and then compare notes. Besides I had covered so much ground with such little result I doubted any-one else but Jim had seen or heard anything of the man in the blue suit. If they had, the rumour would've spread. Homeless people gossip just as much as any-one else.

I headed for the kitchen to get myself something to drink, wiping my brow and tugging at my bandanna which was feeling hot and sticky.

"_Itai!"_

I blinked and stopped. Some-one was in the kitchen. I didn't know any-one in our family who would say 'ouch' in Japanese like that so there's only one other person it could be.

I started walking again and entered the kitchen, looking around.

A really strange sight greeted me. Usagi was sitting on one of the kitchen chairs, his legs crossed and his hands on his knees, his shoulders pressed forward. He was shirtless enabling me to see the white fur on his shoulders and arms bristling slightly. He had a rather pained expression. Right behind him stood Mikey who was busy pressing something against his back with both hands, biting his tongue and frowning in concentration.

"What on Earth are you doing?" I asked standing frozen in the doorway, not knowing what to make of this scene. "I thought you two'd be searching the sewers by now."

Mikey nodded but didn't look up from Usagi's back, lifting whatever he was pressing there and placing it in a different location causing the samurai to shudder and take a hissing breath. "Yeah we were gonna, but Usagi's hurt so I didn't think we-"

"What??" I immediately walked forward, alarmed.

"Dude relax." Mikey said, turning to give me a silly yet somehow comforting smile. "It ain't bad. Seems he hit his back kinda hard yesterday when he fell."

I stood myself close-by to inspect Usagi myself but there was nothing to see. Mikey was busy pressing an ice-pack to his right side just under his shoulder blade. The frost on the outside of the pack had melted and was busy soaking the samurai's fur in long streaks, making it stick to him. However I couldn't see any injuries, but I knew just because I couldn't see any doesn't mean they weren't there. Having been raised by master Splinter I knew that sometimes fur could hide all kinds of bruises and injuries.

"I am alright Leonardo-san." Usagi said, turning his head to look at me and giving me a rather embarrassed smile. "But your brother insisted he give the area some attention." He pulled a slight face, I'd almost call it a sulk. "Although personally I would prefer not getting wet again just after I have finally dried off."

I couldn't help but give a slight laugh at this. I tried to swallow it back, remembering my reason for feeling depressed this morning but when he gave me a good humoured smile I felt my uncertainty melt away a little. I shook my head at both of them.

"Mikey, did you ever consider giving him an aspirin?"

Mikey froze and blinked to himself before turning and giving me a wide smile. "Oops?"

I made a noise but I was still smiling, nothing was gonna spoil my mood at the moment. I reached out a hand to help the samurai to his feet. "Come on I'll get you something. It's much better than having ice pressed against your skin trust me."

He took my hand and got to his feet. Once he was standing I dropped my gaze and felt my brain snap in two.

"...Are you wearing _jeans?!_"

He blinked at me, looking confused. "Am I wearing what?"

I turned to look at Mikey, not sure whether to be highly amused or completely mortified. No. No I was mortified. "Michelangelo what did you do to him?!"

Mikey laughed at my horror. "Jeez Leo! Have a cow why don't ya? His clothes were still wet and dirty from yesterday. He'll get sick if he walks around the sewer in damp clothes. they're all I had, it's from one of my disguises"

I stared wide-eyed at him. For some reason seeing Usagi in all his samurai nobility in a pair of denims was warping my view of reality a little. I shook it off as much as I could though, there were more important things to focus on.

Usagi was staring down at the pants himself with a rather worried expression. "Are they not proper attire?"

I rolled my eyes. "No it's fine. It just means Mikey's doing his best to completely corrupt you."

"Hey!"

I ignored my younger brother's complaint. "But come on. We'll get the aspirin and then I wanna tell you what I found out."

He snapped his gaze to me, his expression instantly serious. "You have some information?!"

I smiled and nodded. "It's not much but it's a start."

Usagi wasn't discouraged in the least. He was staring at me, hard. "A start is all we need. Tell me Leonardo-san, what did you learn?"

**xxxxx**

_Long Chapter is long. _

_I'm a little ahead of myself with the chapters so I might be upldating this story a little fast for a day or so. I'm sorry if this bothers any-one._

_Levis. Original jeans. Original people. _


	8. The Next Step

_Another update! I'm like 4 chapters ahead of myself which is why they're coming so fast at the moment. I'll slow down again after a while, but in the meantime I'm keeping the uploads to 1 a day so as not to swamp you guys with text._

_I dunno what's happening! I've never written so much so fast! XD You guys must just be awesome._

_I don't own TMNT or Usagi Yojimbo._

**Xxxxx**

I know I should've waited until every-one had come home before I told them what I'd learned from the homeless man, but I felt it would've been cruel to keep the info from Usagi. I told him how I had asked around before eventually finding Jim and how he had told me of the portal appearing in the park and the man in the blue suit stepping out of it. I was very clear about the description of the man as I had heard it from Jim.

I gotta hand it to Usagi, he didn't interrupt me once except when I used a word he didn't completely understand like "warehouse" and, surprisingly, "park". He listened patiently and quietly as I gave my recount and only when I was finished did he speak.

"A man in a blue suit with a red neck-tie." He repeated. I'd had to explain to him what was meant by "suit and tie" exactly but it didn't take long at all before he was following me.

He nodded "It is the same as the one who attacked us."

I frowned at this. "But, I thought you said you were attacked by a monster. A _Bakemono_."

Usagi nodded again. "It was. I cannot explain it exactly but there was something otherworldly about it. Of course it was one of your _saru_ creatures-" Mikey chuckled at this, amused by how Usagi always referred to humans as 'monkeys' "-in appearance but that was not what I found unearthly about it. It had a strange presence about it, and when it moved it was strange in its evasiveness. Not that it was evasive due to skill or training, it was as if it could move like liquid." He gave an aggravated sigh. "I do not know how to properly word it. It is something one has to see to fully understand."

I nodded, taking his word for it. "Alright. But I wish you'd told us this guy looked like a human earlier. I could've given a better description to the people I was questioning. When you said he was a monster I was kinda expecting something different."

"Are you saying that is not what it is?" My friend asked in a tone of voice with an unfamiliar edge to it.

I blinked at him, a little unnerved. "That's not what I meant."

"Hey if the guy can do the whole Twilight Zone thing there's gotta be something bizzaro going on with him right?" Mikey spoke up. "Who cares what he is! He's obviously creepy and that's all _I_ gotta know!"

Usagi and I had both turned to look at him. The two of us had sat down on the couch while Mikey had for some reason chosen the floor and not the armchair.

I nodded and turned back to Usagi. "It doesn't matter. Point is we're on the same page now. Besides," I gave the samurai a smile. "I did leave before you woke up and could give me a proper description."

Usagi sat still for a moment before he nodded too. "Yes."

He smiled back but it wasn't the friendly smile I had given him, his was sadder. "I am sorry. I did not mean to sound so accusing."

I shook my head and got up. "Don't worry about it. Do you want something to drink?" I hadn't gotten myself anything yet since I arrived home, having been side-tracked.

"Oh!" Mikey put his hand in the air. "Pepsi! Pepsi!!"

I couldn't help but laugh at him. "Ok Mikey keep your bandanna on!" I turned to Usagi to hear if he wanted anything.

I saw him think for a few moments before he shook his head. "No thank you, I am alright."

I nodded and turned to get Mikey and myself a soda. I half wondered if I should get Usagi one as well despite his refusal but decided against it. I didn't think he'd like a fizzy drink very much.

I heard footsteps and saw Raphael walk into the lair, his thumbs hooked in his belt and looking rather pleased with himself. I stopped and cocked a brow at him.

"You're looking very smug," I commented.

He stopped and smirked at me when he saw who I was. "Had a good day."

I looked him up and down critically, not missing his bruised knuckles or the blood on one of his knee-guards. I didn't say anything about it though, after all I was the one who'd sent him to go question the small-time gangs, what did I expect?

"Did you learn anything?" I asked instead.

His grin widened at this and I knew the answer was yes. "Heard some pretty interesting rumours floatin' around. Some sounded pretty damn close ta what we're lookin' for too."

I smiled and gave a nod. "Go get cleaned up. Once Don gets home we'll talk about what we gotta do next. You want a drink?" I added, turning to walk to the kitchen again.

"Beer if ya got it. Coke if ya don't." He called back, continuing to the bathroom.

I returned with the drinks a little later and after he'd cleaned himself up Raph joined us. While we waited for Don to come home I took the opportunity to tell Usagi what has happened in our lives since we last saw him and he in turn told us of some of the things he'd gotten up to himself. I found his stories much more interesting than ours personally but I guess we were pretty equal in terms of adventure. It's just having lived our own stories which mostly happened in New York made his which all took place in a mirror-world of feudal Japan seem a lot more epic in scale. Then again perhaps he felt the same way about ours. I was careful not to go into the subject of this son of his and I was relieved that Raph and Mikey were following my lead. I didn't want to bring up anything that might depress the samurai.

It didn't seem that long before Don wandered into the lair, acting completely opposite to how Raph had come home. He looked kinda glum, staring at the floor as he walked.

"'Bout time ya got home Braniac!" Raph said once Don noticed the rest of us and came over.

He gave Raph a half-smile as he sat down. "Sorry. I was just worried I might miss something from the police scanners if I came back too early."

"Any luck Don?" I asked despite knowing the answers.

He shook his head with a sigh, looking miserable. "I'm really sorry guys. Not even a passing mention of anything that could be useful to us."

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Usagi sink very slightly, but not enough to be obvious about it. I straightened slightly and put on a reassuring smile, putting a hand on Donny's shoulder in what I hoped was a light-hearted way. "Don't worry about it Don. Mikey and Usagi didn't get any clues either, but me and Raph got something to go on."

It seemed to help a little and Don nodded. "Well that's good news at least. What did you find?"

I repeated what I'd already told Usagi and Mikey earlier, about the portal appearing in the park and the man in the blue suit and red tie.

"I got somethin' similar," Raph said once I'd finished. "Word among the local thugs is there's this weird guy wanderin' around the park some nights who don't look like he should be there. He's all dressed up and clean cut but he's only around late at night. They said they pretty much leave him alone 'cause they figured any-one who can walk around Central park at night and not get killed is not a guy they wanna mess with. From what I heard this guy's never seen durin' the day."

"But yesterday when I arrived it was not even mid-day yet," Usagi said. "How is that possible?"

"Well," Donny said in a voice which meant a lesson was coming up, "Portals bend time as well as space and dimension. If this guy could manipulate a portal so he warps to a different place than you did it's possible that he can exit during a different period of time as well."

Usagi swallowed, his eyes widening. "You mean that it could have arrived an entire day before I did?"

Donny nodded. "He could've arrived later too."

Usagi's shoulders stiffened. "But if it arrived sooner than I did, it means that Jotaro-kun has been alone much longer than I previously thought."

He made a noise and pushed himself to his feet abruptly. "I cannot stand this!"

"Hey waoh! Easy!" I said, startled.

I found myself getting up as well. "Look we don't know anything yet-"

"But that is just it!" He said in an exasperated tone. "We do not know anything and time marches on!"

"I know I know." I said, trying to calm him down. "But we gotta be smart about this. Nothing good will come from losing our heads."

Usagi flexed his fingers before clenching his hands into fists again, he lowered his gaze but said nothing.

"I could be wrong," Donny spoke up in a rather small voice. "It's just a theory after all."

Usagi took a deep breath and let it out shakily, forcing himself to relax.

"I am sorry I..." He pressed a hand to his head for a moment. "It is just difficult..."

All I could do in response was nod. "It'll be ok."

"The guys I talked to, they said they've only seen this creep hangin' around the park," Raph interrupted. It was hard to hear but I noticed he was using a more sympathetic tone of voice. For Raph anyway. "I bet ya anythin' if we find him anywhere it'll be there."

I nodded, quickly forming a plan of action. "We'll need to keep a constant look out. The second this guy shows his face again we need to follow him and find out where he could've taken the boy. Don, can you hook up some sort of sentry-system in the park?"

Donny looked at me with a troubled expression but nodded. "It may take a while but it's possible."

I nodded. "In the meantime we can take turns to scout out the park ourselves. If you see anything suspicious use your shell-cell and call the rest of us right away. Starting tonight."

"I'll go first!" Mikey said eagerly, scrambling to his feet. "Leo lemme go first! Please?!"

I stared at him, not sure what to make of his enthusiasm. I gave him a suspicious look. "Why?"

Mikey threw a pout at me, apparently insulted. "'Cause you guys were running around all day and I had to stay at home! Come on you owe me!"

I sighed. "You realise you're just gonna be in the park keeping a look out right? No rooftop acrobatics and no harassing the fast-food drive-thrus."

He nodded and gave me one of his widest smiles. I also noticed that he was using the 'Bambi-eyes' offence on me. "I know. But I really, really wanna do this! Come on, pleeease?"

Raph gave a snicker. "Better let 'im do it Leo or he'll never shut up."

I gave in and nodded. "Alright, but this is serious Mikey. No goofing around."

He made a high-pitched noise and proceeded to give me a squeeze before he turned to run out of the lair. "Thanks Leo!"

"Remember no goofing around!" I called after him but I had a feeling it was useless.

"Do you think he will find anything?" I heard Usagi ask, using a more normal tone of voice again.

I turned to face him. He was staring at me with a barely controlled expression.

"If he doesn't Usagi-san, I _will." _I promised him, secretly promising myself the same thing.

**Xxxxx**

_This chapter was kinda slow, but I'm very excited for the next one!_


	9. The Chase

_This is now officially the longest thing I have ever written EVER! 8'D thank you so much for supporting me guys!_

_Next update will be over a day from now._

**Xxxxx**

It's been four damn days by now. Four days of sitting around on our butts waiting for the bad guys to make their move. Sitting around and waiting is not exactly my strong point. I'm the guy who likes to get things done. 'Course the problem is we gotta wait for something to happen before we can do something about it and that's the part I have a bit of a issue with. And four days is a long time to not do anything. I think it goes without saying I was starting to get a little restless. But if I was getting restless then Usagi was going stir-crazy. Can't say I can blamed the guy. I swear the only reason he hadn't completely lost it yet is because Leo'd been asking him to spar when he saw the rabbit was getting overly tense. And when he and Leo weren't training or hanging out, Master Splinter would spend some time with him, though I don't really know what Sensei and him would talk about. I guessed Sensei just gave his support as a guy who often worried about his own chowder-headed kids. Well whatever they talked about it obviously helped keep the rabbit sane.

I dunno if it's just me but I kinda got the feeling Usagi's been a little snappy. I dunno maybe it is just me, I mean it doesn't take very much to set me off and I know that. I don't know if the other's felt the same way or not. If they noticed it too they're doing a damn fine job of ignoring it. I gave the guy a break though. It's not his fault he's feeling so edgy.

Donny'd already set up some sort of detection system in the park by this stage. I wasn't too sure how it worked, but basically it was like a trigger alarm for when portals appear. Something to do with energy fluxes or something like that. I didn't get all of what Don explained. All I needed to know was when the alarms start ringing we get to the park. Simple and straightforward. That's how I like doing stuff.

As for Master Splinter, when he came home from the Battle Nexus he told us what the Daimyo had to say about the whole portal thing. To be honest I think it's a waste of time to be focusing on _how_ the guy gave the rabbit the slip when we should be focusing on where he went when he did. Anyway I didn't pay much attention, I figured that was all Don's department and if it has any affect on how we're doing things I'll fill myself in on the details then. From what I could gather though the Daimyo said one thing you could do in a portal was to open a second portal while warping. It's like opening a back door. Problem is you gotta know where you're opening the door to, and you gotta know how to do it fast, so you couldn't do it the way we warp to the Battle Nexus using chants and carved symbols. But when they started talking about different ways you could instantly warp I just tuned out. I really didn't think it was worth my time trying to follow what Don was saying.

Despite Don putting up his sentry-system Leo thought we should still take it in turns to scout out the park between midnight and 3. It seemed a little overkill to me but I didn't call him out on it. I might be getting agitated but Leo was doing his typical thing where he was trying to shoulder both his _and_ Usagi's stress while also juggling what we're gonna do next. We were all getting kinda squirrely and I did not wanna get on his bad side right now.

With all the tension in the air I found myself hanging out with Mikey a lot. Dunno why, just felt like the natural thing to do. He drives me nuts but at least I didn't feel like I was suffocating when I spent time with him. He didn't seem as hung-up by all this like the others. I don't think it's 'cause he didn't care, far from it, but his damn optimism was keeping him from moping around like the rest of us it seems. I dunno, I don't analyse things. Point is he wasn't acting as unhinged as the rest of us. Just unhinged in his normal way. Plus kicking his butt when he pissed me off was stopping me from blowing up at either Leo or Usagi when they got on my nerves.

I still don't know why he lets me use him as my personal stress reliever. When we were little kids I kinda bullied him for a while and I know he really didn't like that. I was a brat as a kid. I stopped when we hit a certain age and I realised what a little shit-head I was being. For some reason I've never been able to figure out, Mikey didn't hate my living guts for it and even weirder he still let me pound him without being pissy about it. If it had been me I'd have held the biggest grudge on the face of the planet. Mikey on the other hand didn't seem to give a damn. I have no idea how his head works, but I gotta tell ya, I'm grateful for it. Not that I'd ever be so mushy as to tell him that.

But getting back to the present; It'd been four days by now. Donny was the one who was out on patrol tonight in the park, leaving the rest of us to get some sleep. I'd been the one who was out the night before and although I'd managed to get an hour or so's sleep once I got home I was still tired. I'd turned in early that evening and it didn't take very long before I was out cold.

The piercing noise slowly worked its way through the thick heavy fog in my head before growing steadily louder. I shifted irritably and rolled over, thinking that might for some reason stop the annoying disturbance. It didn't. The noise continued to blare loudly pulling me out of my sleep and waking me up. I groaned and sat up, rubbing my eyes with the palms of my hands. My head felt kinda off-balance, signalling I hadn't gotten nearly enough sleep yet. I gave my head a shake, trying to get it working which caused the hammock to swing very slightly. It was almost as if the thing was trying to coax me into lying down and going back to sleep. I swung myself around and got up instead, avoiding the temptation. I felt around till I found my mask and put it on. I'd done the knot so many times I could've tied it while being completely asleep. I tied the belt but I left the knee and elbow guards for now. Some-one'd turned off the noise and I could hear activity outside my room.

I pushed open my door and stumbled out, tugging on my bandanna tails to tighten the thing. "What's goin' on?" I asked when Mikey trotted past me.

He turned to face me, running backwards for a few steps. "Wake up Raph! We're going to the park! Donny's alarm went off!"

He turned and continued his run to the main room. I followed after him, my head clearing as I started to wake up more.

Both Leo and Usagi were already there. Leo was talking on his shell-cell while the rabbit was tying back his kimono sleeves. His face said he meant serious business.

"We headin' for action?" I asked, grinning widely. I could feel the adrenaline start to pump through me already.

"Yeah." Leo removed the headset from his phone and put it on, turning to me. "Our portal-hopping friend's shown his face on the west side of the park. Don's tailing him and making sure he doesn't get away."

"We taking the Battle shell?" Mikey asked, shifting his weight from foot to foot excitedly.

"No, we're doing this one on foot." Leo said. "We don't want to announce ourselves before we know what we're dealing with."

"You are heading out?"

We turned to see master Splinter walk into the room briskly.

Leo nodded. "The alarm was triggered and I've got Don on the line whose tailing him."

Sensei gave a quick nod. "Then go. And be quick about it."

I gave a nod and turned to get the rest of my gear and my sai.

----

The night air was warm and humid, somehow making the intensity twice as strong. We were running rooftops, following a black Ford on the street below us. The plan was simple; don't worry about sticking together, just follow the car and as soon as it gets to its destination stay put and call the others. No heroics, no running in guns-a-blazing and don't get seen. Not exactly my favourite way of doing things but right now I didn't have time to brood about it. All my attention and energy was focused purely on not losing that car.

The guy we were looking for apparently got into the thing which had been waiting for him outside Central Park. Donny'd given chase, giving us directions till we were able to meet up with him. From then we'd been running. Just running. Ahead of me was Leo and ahead of him was Usagi. Mikey was close behind me and following him Don was bringing up the rear. I didn't think we could keep up with the vehicle but since it was being a good little motorist and going the speed limit as well as stopping at every stoplight we could just about keep sight of it if we didn't stop.

Usagi was practically leaving us in the dust. I've never seen any-one run that fast. Leo was doing his best to keep up but he was still a good few paces behind him. Made sense. The guy's a rabbit, what d'you expect?

The car kept going and I was starting to run out of fuel. I got quite a bit of stamina but I can't flat out sprint for such a long stretch and I could feel myself slowing down. I was already breathing heavily. Behind me I could hear Mikey panting too. He can't keep going for as long as me and Leo can and I knew he was gonna start falling behind real soon. I knew for a fact Donny has gotta be having trouble keeping up himself. I felt the sick realisation hit me that we were gonna lose the car.

My chest was burning, my legs were trembling and we were gonna lose this guy!

However just as I was about to give in, unable to run any-more, the car turned into a side street and into a lot before coming to a stop. We kept going till we reached the roof closest to the building before we stopped and quickly hid ourselves in the shadows. The small parking lot was attached to a rather unimportant looking building. It wasn't that big, was a drab grey in colour and had a large hanger-like door on its side. The windows were mostly dark but a couple of them nearer the ground floor had their lights on. I could see human figures inside, walking around and doing perfectly normal looking things.

"What is this place?" Usagi asked. I could hear he was just as out of breath as I was.

"I don't know." Leo replied.

I saw Mikey close by crouch down to sit on his haunches, trying to catch his breath.

"It just looks like a normal office building," Donny said, practically bent over double, his hands on his knees.

"Sh! He's getting out!" Leo shushed us.

The door of the car opened on the passenger side and out stepped the infamous man in the blue suit. He looked on the younger side and kinda scrawny. He adjusted his tie in a rather pompous way, a big, smug grin on his face. How'd this bozo get the better of Usagi? The rabbit was a trained samurai who'd basically just set a new record in long-distance running! And this skinny-ass yuppie somehow managed to get past him, steal this Jotaro kid and make his escape before Usagi could so much as blink. The rabbit had said this guy was a monster, that he had some supernatural speed or something. Seeing the guy standing there looking like high-school bully-fodder and knowing he'd somehow managed to give Usagi a run for his money convinced me the rabbit was telling the truth.

Usagi made a guttural noise and I saw him reach down and grip the hilt of his katana tightly. He tensed but didn't move, glaring at the man below us with bloody murder in his eyes.

I pulled a face as I watched him for a few seconds. He wanted to tear this guy apart, I could see it. Remind me to never piss this rabbit off. He hadn't even done anything yet and he was creeping me out.

The man in the suit started walking towards the garage door which was busy opening itself up. Some-one inside must've been expecting him. A second man stepped out of the darkness of the garage, flanked by two other guys who looked a lot bigger and gave off the faint scent of military. The second man was dressed in black apart from a white shirt. He moved stiffly and very deliberately. This was a guy who didn't have time to mess around. He moved towards the younger man and reached out a hand business-like. They shook before they turned to enter the building again.

I frowned and squinted my eyes. The guy in black. I knew that guy.

I felt my stomach tear open as I recognised the black shades and combed back hair as he turned and the poor light hit his face.

"_Leo!"_ I hissed, not daring to look away.

"Leo!" Donny echoed. "Leo That's _Bishop!"_

Leo said nothing.

I continued to stare as the phantom of Bishop escorted the blue-suited man into the building.

"Leo!" Donny repeated, he sounded like he had an elastic band around his throat. I turned to look at him and saw he'd grabbed hold of Leo's arm and was squeezing it so tightly his fingers were digging into it. I could visibly see his face pale and his eyes widen.

"My God you don't think he'd be heartless enough to..."

He didn't finish his sentence and the unspoken words hung in the air around us. Memories shot through my mind of metallic tables and leather straps and screaming saw-blades. My heart started to hammer in my chest.

There was a sudden movement and a brief flash of blue.

"_Woah! Stop!!"_ Leo yelled out, lunging forward and throwing out his arms. "Usagi _No!"_

He'd grabbed the rabbit around his waist and pinned him to his plastron. Usagi struggled but couldn't break Leo's bear-hug.

"Let me go Leonardo!" He cried out, not even bothering with the honorific.

"No! Usagi they'll shoot you!!"

"I do not care! Let me go!"

"Usagi for crying out loud get a grip! You won't accomplish anything by getting yourself killed!"

The rabbit tried to push Leo off of him but then settled, breathing hard and staring at the figures of the men as they entered the building and the garage door closed behind them, leaving the parking lot empty.

I took a step closer to Leo and Usagi quickly, ready to help if my bro couldn't keep hold of the rabbit by himself. I knew Usagi could free himself from Leo's grip if he really wanted to, but he'd have to hurt his friend to do so. Usagi wouldn't do that and that's the only reason Leo was able to keep him at bay.

He'd stopped struggling though and Leo loosened his grip. The rabbit was still staring at the spot where Bishop and the other guy disappeared, his teeth clenched and his shoulders so taut they were shaking. He'd drawn his sword and I could see the blade trembling in his hand.

Leo took a shaky breath and licked his lips before he spoke.

"Usagi... I know... I know you-"

"You do _not_ know!" The rabbit snapped, spinning in place and smacking Leo's arms off of him.

Leo visibly started at this.

"You do not know because _you_ are not a father!!" Usagi continued to yell. "He may not belong to me but he is still my son! He is of my blood and flesh and I am the one who is responsible for him! _You_ are not a parent!! You are practically a child yourself !! How dare you assume you _know_ how I am feeling?!"

He fell silent, glaring at Leo.

I was staring at him in disbelief. My gaze flitted nervously to the drawn sword in his hand for a brief second. I took another small step forward, my protective instincts instantly kicking into overdrive.

Leo was staring at Usagi in a state of shock. His eyes were wide. He almost looked like he was holding his breath.

No-one said anything. Usagi did nothing and I slowly felt the brief moment of fear for my brother melt away. But when it did so I felt my guts twist up instead, making me feel sick.

Leo closed his mouth, swallowed, then spoke. His voice sounded like it didn't belong to him. It was shaky and uncertain.

"Usagi-san... Please... listen to me. If that man catches you he will kill you. He won't even think twice about it, he will _kill_ you.... And he will cut you open and take you apart. Please... Jotaro is counting on you to rescue him. What'll happen to him if you get yourself killed?..." Leo swallowed again, keeping his eyes locked on his friend. "Please I... I don't.. I don't want anything to happen to you."

No-one said anything. I looked back and forth between them. Usagi hadn't budged, still staring daggers at my brother. Leo staring back, his brown eyes pleading for his friend to listen to him.

Usagi straightened and replaced his katana in its sheath, never breaking his gaze from Leo's. Leo in turn did nothing.

Usagi stared at him for a couple of moments longer before he turned and started to walk away. Away from us and away from Bishop's building. He walked a while longer before I saw him break into a run and get lost in the darkness.

When Leo gave a long breath I turned back to look at him. He sunk in place and closed his eyes, his whole body exhaling.

"Leo..." a trembling voice said somewhere behind me. "...you ok bro?"

Leo didn't open his eyes, but he nodded.

I turned and started heading in the direction Usagi had gone. "I better go get him."

"Raph." Leo said and I stopped, turning to look at him. "...don't yell at him."

I pulled a face and made a noise, but nodded. "I won't."

I started to run after the rabbit, blood throbbing along my cheekbones. I didn't know whether to be angry or not. Normally I would've been furious that any-one dared to throw Leo's concern back in his face like that and to be honest I wasn't sure I wasn't gonna try beating the rabbit's face in when I found him. But right now my head was still reeling from what just happened. But I could feel it caged up inside me. Burning, venomous anger. I didn't even know who I was angry at. Usagi or Bishop? I couldn't tell.

Bishop had Usagi's son. Possibly the very worst thing that could've happened and here it is. Hell knows what he wanted with the boy. I didn't know and didn't care. All I knew was that Bishop was a merciless bastard with no compassion. There was a good chance.. .. shit... ..there was a good chance.. that there was no longer anybody to save.

**Xxxxx**

...


	10. Insomnia

_I wasn't gonna update tonight but after a long day I thought I'd treat myself. So lucky you guys I guess XD; I hope..._

_short chapter is short._

**Xxxxx**

I didn't like this. Everything was going wrong and I was getting scared. Two nights ago Usagi had yelled at Leo, and when Raph brought him home he didn't even wanna talk to him. I dunno what happened. Why was Usagi mad at Leo? All Leo's done is look after him and try to help him. I didn't understand.

Bishop was the one this blue-suit guy was working for. Man, of all the people in all the world, why'd it hafta be Bishop? I won't lie, he scared me. He scared me more than the Shredder did. The first time we ever met him he tried to cut me open, and he would've too if Master Splinter hadn't arrived when he did. I still have nightmares about that sometimes, but I don't tell any-one that.

Leo was really upset by what Usagi had said. I felt really, really bad for him but I didn't know what to do. I wanted to say or do something to cheer him up but I couldn't think of anything. I really don't like it when Leo is sad.

He and I had headed home after all the stuff on the roof happened. Donny had stayed behind to check out Bishop's building from all angles. He said he was gonna try look for any weak points and stuff. Leo didn't say anything on the way home at all and when we got back we just waited for Raph and Usagi to come home before we went straight to bed. The next morning we found Don had come home while we were asleep and was already working on something to try and get inside Bishop's hideout and see what's in there. He hadn't slept at all.

Usagi and Leo weren't fighting or anything but there was this weird vibe between them that wouldn't go away. They were talking and stuff but it sounded stiff and just weird to me. I didn't like it.

I wasn't tired. I couldn't sleep no matter how hard I tried. I curled up, pulling the blankets over my head and squeezing my eyes shut tightly but nothing helped. I wasn't sleepy. I sat up and got down from my bunk. Maybe some warm milk would help. There was no way the others were gonna let me sleep in tomorrow.

I opened my door and looked around the lair. Leo wasn't on the couch any-more. When we realised Usagi was gonna be around a little longer we drew lots and he ended up bunking with Don. So the place was empty and quiet.

I snuck out my room and went to the kitchen. For some reason the light was on. Did we forget to switch it off? I frowned, confused. Was some-one else up? I could hear some-one inside. I walked in to see who else was awake, and stopped.

Usagi was sitting in a chair at the table. He wasn't wearing his kimono, just the _juban_ that goes under it. His elbows were on the table and his face was in his hands. I could see him shaking.

I blinked quietly to myself, I didn't know what to do. Should I get Leo? No. No Usagi's mad at him. That wouldn't be a good idea.

I didn't know what to do.

He gave an sudden jerk and I heard the suck of air as he stifled a sob.

I bit my lip and shook my head, walking towards him.

He heard me and twisted around in the chair to see who I was. His eyes were wide, alarmed at having been seen. They were glistening from too much water.

I walked over to him, put my arms around him and clutched him tightly.

For a few moments he didn't move, frozen stiff. Then he sunk, gave a spasm and broke down.

I tightened my grip, clinging to him. I could feel a lump rising in my own throat and my eyes starting to burn. I tried to choke it down.

"It'll be ok Usagi..." I said in a voice that didn't sound like mine.

He didn't say anything, but I felt an arm come up and hold on to me. It strengthen its grip around my shoulders as he continued to cry. His whole body wracked with sobs.

I shut my eyes tightly, feeling something run down my own cheeks.

"It'll be ok..."

**Xxxxx**

.


	11. What Mikey Did

_I don't own TMNT or UY. Only the blue-suit guy._

**Xxxxx**

It was cooler tonight, and there was a bit of a breeze. It felt nice. It was coming from the waterfront and I could smell the ocean mixed with the smells that made up New York City. I liked it and enjoyed it as I flipped myself off the edge of one roof with my hand, caught some air, then landed on the next roof over. The fancy moves weren't really necessary but I can't help myself. I love being outside. I love everything about it, and I just can't stop myself. What can I tell ya? I'm the goof. But I wasn't outside to play tonight.

I dunno how long I'd sat in the kitchen with Usagi. It felt like a really long time but I didn't know for sure. After a while he'd started to calm down and pulled away from me. I didn't mind. I didn't know what I could say to him. Every time I tried to open my mouth to speak I couldn't find any words and just closed it again. Eventually all I could think to say was to tell him to try and get some sleep. He just nodded and went back to Leo's room. I had no idea if he'd even tried to sleep again.

Myself, I stayed in the kitchen a while longer. I washed my face but after that I didn't know what to do at all. I hadn't been tired to begin with but now there was no way I was gonna be able to sleep, I knew it. I'd gotten myself some milk and gulped it down, trying to decide what to do.

I think I finally understood it. Usagi wasn't mad at Leo at all. Oh sure he _thought_ he was but that wasn't really the truth I think. He was just so screwed up by all this he didn't know what to do either, and 'cause Leo was stopping him from doing something, well, Raph-ish he was taking it out on Leo. In a sad way that's kinda funny considering Leo's done the same thing once or twice.

But none of that solved _my_ problem. I couldn't stand just watching as this whole mess hurt the people I care about. And yeah, I care about Usagi. He's my friend too ya know. Maybe not my _best_ friend like Leo but he's still my friend. I couldn't take him crying like that. It hurt me too much.

Eventually I went to my room, put on my gear and mask and left the lair. I didn't know what I was planning to do, I'd figure it out as I went. I'll probably just end up running around till I'm actually tired before I go home. So here I was, jumping rooftops and practising my acrobatics. Sensei says I'm like, really really agile. I guess so. I dunno. It's just fun, I never thought it was something to be super proud of. It's just something I liked doing.

I kept jumping and running, not really paying attention to whereI was going. It was still dark but I knew I'd better get home before the sun came up or I was gonna be in trouble. I landed on a rooftop and looked around to see where I'd ended up. I wasn't that far away from the lair yet, I could keep going a little while longer. I took in the view a little.

The streetlights made the bottoms of the buildings glow red and orange while the many, many windows sparkled in the black towers of the city. Even this late at night you could hear car engines and angry horns blaring at each other. I could even pick up an ambulance siren a long way off. I looked up but there weren't any stars in the sky tonight. The moon was too big and the city lights were too bright. Wait. Didn't we have a full moon last night too? I couldn't remember. Does the moon stay full more than one night? I'd ask Don but I was scared he'd give me a full textbook worth of lecturing when I just wanted a yes or no answer. Silly Donny.

I caught myself smiling at my own thoughts. Guess I'm just easily amused. It felt good though, I was glad I came out here even if Leo or Master Splinter criticize me when I get home. I can't do anything to help Usagi by myself but I can at least show him things aren't all that bad. Oh sure they're _bad_ but they'll be ok, I know it. After all when things are at their worst they can only get better right?

A breeze blew past me and I sneezed. Perhaps it was time to start heading back. Maybe try get a little bit of sleep before we start doing stuff again in the morning. I wonder if Usagi had gotten any sleep. I know he's not gonna tell the other's what happened earlier. Maybe he'd tell Master Splinter but even if he did Sensei wouldn't tell us. I should probably make sure the others don't give him a hard time today.

I turned and was about to start heading home when I saw the familiar rooftop a block or so away. How did I end up near it? I guess I wasn't thinking and with Usagi on my mind and what happened a little while ago I just subconsciously made my way here, wanting to do something or something. I tilted my head at it, biting my lip. I knew I shouldn't but...

I jumped from the roof I was on and swung my way to the rooftop closest to the grey building with the garage door. I stopped, looking down at it. There was nothing to see. It was just a normal looking building in a normal looking neighbourhood.

I stared at it for a while. Jotaro was in there. Little-Usagi. I wish I knew what he was like but I bet he's awesome. I mean he's Usagi's little boy so he's gotta be cool. I wondered if he's gonna start learning swordsmanship. If he was has he maybe started already? Master Splinter started to train us practically the day after we could walk but I knew that wasn't really normal. Leo got his first real sword when he was 8. Now you _know_ that's not normal! I wondered if Jotaro was gonna be a samurai like Usagi was. I mean, I didn't really understand it completely but from what I gathered Jotaro only met Usagi a short while ago, so maybe he didn't want to be a Samurai like our friend. Maybe he wanted to be like whoever raised him instead. I wish I could ask him.

I stared at the dark building, trying to form a mental picture of what the little boy would look like. Heh. All I could manage was, literally, a mini version of Usagi. He was in that building. He was right there in front of me but I couldn't see him or hear him or touch him. No wonder Usagi had a freak-out session when we were here last time.

I sighed and turned to go back home. There was nothing I could do by myself and I wasn't stupid enough to try. I tensed to jump the roof when I heard a metallic noise coming from the building. I turned to see what it was and saw the garage door opening itself up. I frowned, getting up again and quickly hiding myself in the shadows.

Out of the building stepped the guy in the blue-suit. He was being followed by one of Bishop's armed men but once he was out of the building the armed guard stopped and watched him walk the rest of the way, not escorting him.

I frowned to myself. Ya know, Usagi said this guy was creepy but apart from portal hopping he didn't look so scary. In fact he looked kinda like a push-over. Still, he made me angry. I don't get angry easily but this guy made me mad. He'd stolen a member of Usagi's family. His family! Usagi, although he's been kinda moody lately, is still the nicest guy in the world and this dude came and messed with his _family_. That's just not right. He was hurting my friend, which was making Leo sad and that was hurting _my_ family. Nobody does that!

Heh. I sound kinda like Raph.

The guy walked across the parking lot and I expected him to get in a car. I was surprised when he didn't and walked out the lot before starting down the side-walk. Was he gonna walk all the way to Central Park? He didn't strike me as the kinda guy who'd call a cab. Probably wasn't stylish or something. I watched him as he kept walking. He turned a corner and disappeared from sight.

I watched the empty street for a few moments. I should just go home. I should just turn around and go home. I was out here alone, no-one knew where I was and probably didn't even know I was gone yet. I was probably gonna get lectured as it was for not leaving a note or anything. Should just turn around and go home. Yep.

....

I crouched down and jumped to the next roof, running it's width before taking a leap to the next one over, going the way the blue-suited guy had left.

I wasn't gonna do anything stupid I swear! I just wanted to follow him to see where he was going. I wasn't even gonna touch down on street level. Maybe if I find out where he was going I could help Usagi a little and I could tell Don and Leo something that they could build a plan around or something. That'd be great! I really wanted to do something to help. Like, really badly. I feel like I haven't really done as much as the others so far.

I turned and jumped down from the roof to the street-light below it before falling to the street, crossing it and making my way up the side fire-escape on the opposite building. Hah! Eat your heart out Spiderman! Ok maybe I wasn't being quite that extreme but still, not bad.

I ran the rooftop and spotted the guy again, still walking calmly down the street. You'd think he'd be a little more careful waltzing through New York in the dark. Any half-brained mugger could jump him. But then, Usagi said he was very fast. Maybe he wasn't scared cause he knew he could take 'em? I didn't know and I wasn't planning to find out for myself.

I continued to tail him, sticking to the shadows and blending in with the surroundings, staying silent. He didn't look my way once. Master Splinter would be proud! If I find anything I gotta let him know about my mad silence skills. But if I don't get any new info I think I might skip this little story. Leo would kill me if he knew I was doing this. Heck even if I do find something he'll probably kill me anyway. But I'm here now and I've come too far to just give up.

I continued to follow the guy. Eventually we reached the park and he went inside. I stopped on the last roof and watched him as he walked down the steps towards the big 'Angel of the Waters' fountain before turning and disappearing in between the trees.

I made a noise in the back of my throat. What do I do now? Do I follow him? I mean, Central Park lake is like right there. If something happens I can jump in the water. I doubt he'd follow me in that suit of his and his stupid fancy shoes. Besides I'm a good swimmer. Duh. I could swim before I could walk. I could get away no problem! I made up my mind and trotted down the fire escape, dropping into the alley before crossing the street and running down the steps 2 at a time. I ran past the fountain and into the trees, keeping my step light and bouncy so he wouldn't hear my footsteps. I looked around as I trotted lightly, heading the way I'd seen the guy go.

Where was he? I was sure he'd come this way. He couldn't just disappear right? Oh wait. Yeah he could. But I would've heard him open a portal. He's gotta be around here somewhere. No way he could've gotten that far ahead of me. But then I have a harder time figuring out how to find my way in trees and stuff. I'm use to the city, when it comes to more foresty areas I'm not so good. Leo's a lot better at it than me but then again he's better than me at everything so that's not saying much. Raph's better at it too though. I kinda wished he'd come with me to be honest. This is just the kinda hair-brained scheme he wouldn't mind being a part of.

I thought I saw movement ahead of me. Ah there he was! I picked up my pace, wanting to at least get him in my sights again. I jogged, trying to listen for any tell-tale noises that he was ahead of me. I came to a stop when I saw the trees thinned into a slight clearing ahead. I pressed myself against a tree, trying to see if I could spot him. I thought I could see him on the other side, close to where the trees closed in again. Was he just standing there? Maybe he was gonna open his portal. I mean it seemed like the right kinda spot to do so.

I saw him turn, facing the way he'd come. He looked around the area slowly and calmly...and stopped when he was facing my hiding spot.

My breath caught in my chest. No. There's no way he could see me. It was dark, I was hidden and I was practically the same colour as the trees and plants around me. There's no way he could see me.. ..right?

But he wasn't looking away. He kept staring right at me, and I kept staring right back. I felt a cold shiver run down the inside of my shell all along my spine. An ice sensation spread along the inside of the bone on my back along my ribs. It's a strange sensation, I dunno if a human would understand the feeling.

A smile spread on the man's face. Not a wicked or psychotic smile, just a normal, friendly smile. I didn't like it. My heart was pounding. He could see me. There was no mistake now. He could see me.

"Why are you following me?" He called. He sounded almost amused, like I was a stray dog or something.

Well, no point sitting in the dark now.

I stepped out from my cover a little, slowly reaching to my belt as I pulled my 'chucks free, letting them hang as I stared back at the guy. I didn't answer. I didn't wanna talk to him.

His smile widened. "Can't you speak?"

I frowned at him. I didn't like his tone of voice. He was patronizing me. I hate it when people do that cause it makes me feel like an idiot. I know I'm a bit of a doofus but I'm not dumb! I don't like it when people treat me like I'm some kind of little kid or something.

"I talk fine." I said.

His smile perked a little. "Well that's a surprise."

He started coming towards me and I went into my ready-stance, lifting my chucks and getting them into their spin threateningly. It didn't seem to have any effect on him, and he just kept walking towards me, the friendly, pleasant smile still on his face.

Ut-oh.

**Xxxxx**

_This chapter was kinda predictable but I think after all the other stuff in this story I can get away with at least 1 foreseeable event._

_Mikey... you're a dork. But ILU anyway._


	12. Leonardo's Anger

_I don't own TMNT or UY._

**Xxxxx**

I woke up feeling much better than I had in a while. Maybe that's not very fair considering what a rough time we were currently having. Leo had bullied me into going to bed last night and getting some sleep. I didn't really want to as I was busy working on a Trojan I wanted to implant in Bishop's network, so we could get a better idea of what exactly that loathsome man was doing with Jotaro, and what he possibly wished to accomplish by kidnapping him. Leo would hear none of it though and told me if I didn't go to bed he was going to get Raph to pick me up and carry me there. I decided to listen to him because the way things are at the moment I had a hunch he'd do it too. Besides, I've kinda been skipping sleep since we discovered the rather unpleasant fact that Bishop was the one who had Usagi's son.

Poor Usagi. Every fibre of my being was screaming at me to help him and I admit I was perhaps overworking myself because of it. I tended to have a bad habit of doing that to myself. Of course it was more than Usagi I wanted to try and help. There was Jotaro himself as well. It's been almost a week now. In fact I believe it was a week today exactly. That's a long time to be in captivity, especially for a little kid. I really hope he's ok. My one comfort was that he was Usagi's child and because of that I believed he had to be a strong character himself.

Sleep seems to have done me quite a bit of good. I sat up and stretched myself, ready to get right back at it after some breakfast. I got down from my bunk, got dressed (for lack of a better word) and went to get myself ready to face the day, making sure to not step on Leo as I did so.

After I'd brushed my teeth and washed my face I walked to the kitchen. I was rather surprised to find it had a severe lack of Mikey in it. Usually he got up first just so he would be the one to cook breakfast. I found it rather fascinating. Perhaps that's a little wrong of me to psychoanalyse my own brother but I mean what I said with a level of affection. I just fond it interesting that he got so much enjoyment out of something I usually considered to be a chore.

He wasn't in the kitchen today though. My guess is he was sleeping in. That wasn't really that strange of him either if he was feeling lazy. I noticed a glass on one of the counters. It was empty but it was also dirty with milk residue. I rolled my eyes and went to clean it. This was also not very strange of him.

Once I'd cleaned and put it away I started looking around in the cupboards to see what kind of food we had lying around. I didn't really feel like making something big and was glad when I found we still had a jumbo box of Cheerios left over. I put it on the table and went about getting some bowls and the milk. I hoped there was enough for 6 people but if we use it carefully we should be able to all get a share.

I turned and clicked on the kettle getting myself, Leo and Raph a coffee mug while getting Usagi and Master Splinter the traditional cups. I didn't bother getting Mikey either, knowing he wasn't fond of coffee which frankly, I really don't understand. I can't function without the stuff.

I searched around to see what kind of tea we had left over. There was still some ginseng left which was good. Sensei had tried to teach me some basic herbal skills and although I was no doctor, I knew ginseng was good for anxiety and stress. Heaven knows Usagi could use some of it. He was treating Leo rather coldly at the moment but I wasn't too worried about it. Yes it wasn't right of him to have blown up at Leo the way he did but he and my brother were such good friends I knew they wouldn't remain angry at each other for much longer.

I heard some-one come into the kitchen and turned to see who it was. Speaking of the devil, Leo walked in. I must've woken him up when I left the room. Leo was a good roommate. He was quiet, didn't snore and if he woke up before I did he was able to leave the room without waking me. Sadly he was a light sleeper and so if I got up first I usually woke him when I left. Oh dear, I make us sound like a married couple!

"Morning." he said, sitting down at the table.

I gave him a smile. "Good morning. Coffee?"

He nodded. "Please."

I poured him a mug, turning and handing it to him. He looked around the room.

"Any-one else up yet?"

I shook my head, pouring my own mug and sitting down at the table. "Doesn't look like it. I haven't seen any-one else."

Leo poured himself a bowl of cereal, lifting his eyes to give me a thoughtful look. "You didn't sneak out to work on that computer-thing last night did you?"

I couldn't help but laugh. "No Leo. I didn't get up and go work on my virus. Sheesh. You're worse than a mother!"

He managed a smile which I was happy to see. "Just making sure. You seem to be working in overdrive and I don't want you burning yourself out before we need you."

I wasn't sure whether to be insulted or flattered.

He handed me the cereal box and I handed him the milk.

"How'd you sleep Leo?" I asked, I wasn't able to hide my concern.

He gave me a reassuring smile and a nod.

"I slept." He answered my real question.

I sunk a little in relief, my smile growing slightly as I nodded.

He cocked a brow at me, sitting back and stirring his coffee. "_Now_ who's being the mother?"

I laughed and kicked at his chair under the table, missing it by a few inches. "Sure just throw it back in my face like that."

He chuckled and took a sip from his mug.

I was really glad to see him finally relaxing. He had been acting really depressed for the past day or so after the roof incident. I don't know why but something Usagi said hit a very sensitive nerve in my brother. I wasn't sure what it was but it obvious hurt him very deeply. Him and Usagi still seemed a little tense over the issue but I was starting to notice the animosity between them was weakening. I'm sure they would patch things up soon.

"What's for breakfast?" Raph walked into the room, rubbing his own shoulder.

I tapped the cereal box in response.

He gave something between a groan and a growling noise. I knew Raph didn't like cold food so early in the morning. Too bad.

"Ain't we got toast or something?" He said, going to the counter.

"You're welcome to make some yourself Raph." I said, starting on my food.

He didn't say anything but I could hear him opening the plastic bag on the bread.

"Don." Leo said.

I turned to look at him, his tone sounded serious again.

"This program you're working on," he said. "What is it exactly? I know you tried to explain to me what you were hoping to do with it but you haven't filled me in on your progress yet."

I nodded and swallowed my mouthful, quickly going into an explanation.

"It's a Trojan Horse. That is it's a program that will mask itself as nothing but random data but once in Bishop's system it should give us access to his files and records, perhaps even a floor plan if we're lucky. I'm hoping we'll find out why on earth he would kidnap a child from another dimension which has never shown any malicious intent towards our world. Even more importantly if I can find the right file we can find out where exactly he's holding Jotaro and uhm.. how the little guy is doing."

"Ya mean we find out if he's still in one piece." a voice grumbled behind me.

"_Raphael!"_ Leo stood up from his seat.

"Hey, don' whine at me bro you're thinkin' it just as much as the rest of us!" He snapped back, giving Leo a dark look.

"Yeah but I wouldn't be so callous to say it out loud!" Leo said angrily.

"Well maybe we oughta!" Raph said, slamming the switch on the toaster to turn it on. "It'll make things a hell of a lot easier when we get there and it turns out ta be the truth!"

"Raph how could you say that?" Leo said. He sounded horror-struck. "How can you say that?!"

"I'm just bein' honest!" He growled. "An' you know it."

There was silence. I realised I was holding my spoon half-way to my mouth and lowered it nervously. I hate it when they fight. But I had to admit that although Leo was right, Raph wasn't exactly lying either. There was the possibility that Jotaro was no longer in the land of the living. I had avoided thinking about this though. It was too terrible to comprehend. I also felt the pang of guilt hit me. We hadn't told Usagi exactly what Bishop tended to do with his... specimens. Heaven only knows how he'd react upon hearing the person who had his son is known for dissecting those he captured.

Leo was still glaring at Raph but he sat back down in his seat. "Fine. But if you're gonna bitch about it do me a favour and don't say anything in front of _my_ friend if you don't mind. He's got enough to worry about as it is."

Raph glared right back but kept quiet.

Leo dropped his gaze and proceeded to eat his cereal again, perhaps more aggressively than necessary.

Raph made an irritable noise.

"He's my friend too ya know." He said, turning and marching out of the kitchen.

I watched him go, but Leo didn't look up.

The toast popped but they were now abandoned.

I turned to my eldest brother. "Leo... maybe you should talk to him."

"Why?" Leo snapped. "So he can dump all his issues on me too?!"

Wow. _That_ was rather uncharacteristic of him. Then again Raph had a knack for getting under Leo's shell.

I shook my head gently. "No. Because he's just worried and he doesn't know how..."

"_My God! Mikey!!"_

We both twisted our heads to the kitchen door. Raph's voice had come from the main room.

We dropped our spoons and simultaneously got out of our chairs, pushing them recklessly aside and hurrying to see what had happened.

My pulse was speeding up though I didn't know what I was expecting. Certainly not what I saw.

Mikey was standing in the centre of the room, his gaze lowered and his fists clenched. Raph was standing in front of him, both hands on our little brother's shoulders and looking him over with that overly-worried expression he seemed to save only for when Mikey got hurt.

As for Mikey himself; he was a mess. He was covered in mud and grass stains and I noticed one of his wrist straps was missing. His knuckles were bloody and he seemed to have a cut along the side of his face but it didn't look too bad thank heavens. There were grass-burns on the underside of his arms and I could see one of his bandanna tails had been torn. But what really frightened me was the sight of blood. There was blood on his knee-guards, his right hand and soaking into the wood of his nunchucks. He looked like he'd just come home from a war.

I heard Leo beside me take a staggering breath and shoot forward.

"Michelangelo!"

Mikey didn't look at him. He was frowning hard at the floor, as if he was expecting to be yelled at.

When Leo got closer Raph moved aside for him to inspect our brother as well. Their fight from just a few seconds ago completely forgotten.

Leo reached out and carefully placed his hands on Mikey's jaw-line, turning Mike's head gently to inspect him closer. I saw him give a horrified shake of his head.

"You've got bruises all along your neck! Mikey what the hell happened to you?? Are you hurt??"

Mikey wasn't looking at Leo, answering with a simple; "No."

"Who did this to you?" Raph said with a very dangerous rumble in his voice.

Mikey shook his head again. "Just drop it Raph."

Leo was still looking him over, taking note of any other injuries he might have.

I came closer myself, I didn't know if I should get master Splinter or not or if I should get a first aid kit or something. I felt slightly panicky.

Raph bared his teeth. "Don't tell me ta drop it Mikey! Tell me who did this!"

"Raph cool it." Leo said with a demanding tone, not looking away from Mike.

I swallowed the lump in my throat. "Is he ok Leo?" I asked nervously.

"I said I was fine." Mikey said, trying to twist himself out of Leo's hands slightly.

Leo took the hint and let go of him but continued to stare with deep concern.

"Mikey what happened to you?"

Mikey wasn't looking at any-one. He seemed angry but I couldn't for the life of me figure out why. The expression didn't suit him at all.

"I was following that guy who's working for Bishop." he said to the floor.

I felt my blood run cold.

Raph's jaw dropped slightly and I could see the utter disbelief in his face.

"You _WHAT?!"_ Leo practically exploded.

Mikey visibly flinched but still didn't look at him.

"Mikey what in God's name did you think you were _doing?_!" Leo continued.

Mikey shook his head and finally looked up to meet Leo's gaze.

"I wasn't gonna do anything! I just saw him and wanted to see where he was going! I didn't mean to get in a fight Leo I swear!"

"You could've been _killed!!"_ Leo was furious. I almost found myself backing away from him.

"How could you be so irresponsible?! What were you _thinking_?! What?! You just thought it'd be a good idea to run after some-one who not only could've warped you to Kingdom Come but who _also_ was skilled enough to get past Usagi whose a trained samurai and who works for _Bishop of all people_ all by yourself without telling anybody?!"

Mikey shook his head violently. "No! It wasn't like that! I wanted to help! I just wanted to help!"

"Oh and putting your life in danger when we have so much going on already is helpful?! I can't _believe_ you!!"

Mikey's shoulders were starting to heave and I could see his cheeks flushing. "Leo I'm sorry! I'm _sorry!!_"

Leo's hands flew up. "Look I can't even talk you right now ok?! In fact I don't even wanna _see_ you!! Get yourself cleaned up and if you so much as set one _foot_ out of this lair today you are gonna regret it for the rest of your life! I mean it!!"

"Hey come on Leo! He said he didn't mean to!" Raph spoke up.

"Of course _you'd_ defend this kind of behaviour!!" Leo said, rounding on Raph instead.

Oh no. I can't listen to this. I put my hands over where my ears were, shutting my eyes.

"What's _that_ suppose ta mean?!" Raph yelled.

"You know _exactly_ what it means!!" Leo yelled back.

"_Shut up!!"_

They both went quiet and turned to Mikey.

He was glaring at them, his fists clenched so tightly they were going white. I could see his knees shaking as angry tears ran down his cheeks.

"Just shut up both of you!! I didn't mean for this to blow up in my face ok?! I screwed up! Fine! But don't use _me_ as an excuse to start screaming at each other!!"

He reached up and wiped at his face with a hand angrily, still keeping his glare on Raph and Leo. The wipe caused an ugly red smear across his cheek.

"If you wanna be mad at me then fine!! I don't care!! But I'm sick of listening to the two of you!! So just shut up and leave me alone!!"

He shoved past the two of them and marched to his room. I tried to follow him but he gave me a look that froze me in my tracks. I watched the back of his shell enter his room and the door slam so loudly I heard something fall and break somewhere.

I heard Raph take a breath to lash out at Leo again but I spun around and interrupted.

"Leo is he hurt bad?? Did you see anything??"

Leo was glaring at Raph but broke his gaze to look at me. I stared at him pleadingly. I didn't want them to fight. They can't fight. Not now. Not on top of everything else.

Leo seemed to calm down slightly at my expression. Raph held his tongue but I was afraid to break gaze with Leo to see his face.

Leo shook his head tightly. "He's been in a nasty fight but he looks like he's ok. Worst I could see was some-one'd tried to choke him."

I heard Raph growl and I had to look at him. He wasn't growling at Leo thank heavens.

"Why? Why would he do such a stupid thing?! He could've been killed! He says he wanted ta help but the hell does he think he's been doin' so far?! Playin' checkers?! This ain't like him!"

"That's what I wanna know!" Leo yelled back, but since he was agreeing with Raph the argument wasn't going anywhere.

"Look please. Just please stop fighting guys." I begged. "We don't need this right now. At least Mikey's ok. He's ok and maybe he can tell us something about this guy we didn't know already. I know I'm grasping at straws here but just.. ..just don't fight any more."

There was silence. Leo and Raph were both avoiding my gaze as well as each other's.

Eventually Raph turned and marched away, heading for the dojo, most likely to beat the hell out of his punching bag. Leo made an aggravated noise and crossed his arms, still visibly worked up.

I merely stood there, feeling useless. I felt like I was fused to the spot. Unable to follow Raph and try to calm him, unable to say anything to Leo and unable to go and see if Mikey's alright.

There was a sound of weight on the metal floor and we both turned our heads to see what it was.

Usagi was standing in Leo's doorway, staring at both of us with a heartbroken expression.

He turned and looked in the direction of Mikey's door before he turned back to the two of us. We stood frozen, staring back at him.

He lowered his head slightly before lifting it again.

"Leonardo-san.... I am sorry... I am so sorry...."

**Xxxxx**

_I have no idea how Leo and Raph started fighting in this chapter .___. they just... did._

_I'm struggling with the next few chapters 8'( oh I know what's gonna happen and I haven't got writer's block or anything but I'm really worried they're not very strong as far as chapters go. I feel stupid for asking especially since you've been giving me such wonderful comments so far but please let me know what you think of them as they come. Thank you!_


	13. The Truce

_I don't own TMNT or UY._

**Xxxxx**

"I am tearing your family apart."

I looked up when he spoke. He looked so miserable and lost. No-one should look like that, least of all such a kind loving person like Usagi.

He was sitting on the couch, his legs crossed, both hands around a tea-cup which by now only held cold tea. He was staring ahead of himself, looking as if he hadn't slept in days. Perhaps he hadn't.

I shook my head and put down my own cup of tea on the coffee-table.

"It's not you Usagi." I said gently.

He closed his eyes and gave a long sigh.

"Yes it is..."

The lair was quiet now. Raph was still in the dojo blowing off steam, Mikey hadn't come out of his room yet and Donny had wandered off, possibly to work on his computer virus again, I wasn't sure though. We'd caused such a racket that master Splinter had come to see what all the noise was about. He was very disappointed to hear we'd been fighting amongst ourselves. We were going to get a lecture later for sure. We would probably have gotten one right away but Sensei had noticed Usagi had also heard the noise and had come out of my room which he was currently using as his own. I had just moved towards my friend when Sensei walked in. Seeing I was about to comfort him, he dropped his lecture, but I didn't miss the look he gave me. It said; 'comfort him Leo. But when you're done prepare for a serious scolding'. I wasn't looking forward to it. He'd then turned and followed Don who left the room. I kinda got the feeling we really upset him. Donny's such a peacemonger, he really hates it when any of us fight, and this had been a bad one.

I felt terrible that Usagi had heard it. Then again how couldn't he? We were all shouting. He seemed to really have taken the fight to heart for some reason. It really bothered me that our stupid argument had given him even more sorrow. I'd made us both some tea, feeling we needed it, and then sat him down on the couch, sitting down beside him. We'd been quiet until he'd spoken up.

I turned to face him better.

"Alright. Yes it is you, but not in the way you think."

He opened his eyes again and turned them to look at me. Strange and pink, yet somehow not unsettling at all.

"We're very worried about you Usagi." I said. "We're worried about your son. We may not have met him yet but he's still very important to us. He's important to us because he's important to you. We wish..." I shook my head slightly. ".._I_ wish.. I wish I could do more for you. I wish I could tear down that building brick by brick and pull him free from there but.." I stopped for a moment. "...I can't."

I gave a hollow laugh. "And that hurts..."

He said nothing, staring at me quietly.

"I'm very worried about you Usagi... You're my friend...." I pulled a slight face. "...and I'm unable to help you...."

He shook his head at this. "You have helped me brother."

I turned to look at him again when he used the seldom-said honorary title.

He was still looking at me and I saw him smile slightly. "You have helped me. If it wasn't for you and your family I... .." He merely breathed out and turned away, raising a hand and running it back over his head, not knowing how to finish his sentence.

"I should not have asked you for help." He said softly.

I was hurt by this and I didn't care if it showed.

He noticed and smiled more affectionately, giving his head a soft shake. "I have brought nothing but sadness for you. That was never my intention. I was thinking about myself and my own turmoil, and I did not even stop to consider what I was bringing to you and your lives. I have done you great evil."

I frowned at him. "Usagi if you didn't come to us for help you would've done something far worse. You'd have been all alone in this city trying to fight some-one who I know, no offence, you wouldn't be able to beat by yourself. If you'd done that and something'd happened, which it would have, we wouldn't even have known. Hell who knows how long it would've been before we heard anything about it. And then where you we be? We'd be left with the knowledge that you didn't trust us enough to ask for help, and that you'd rather get killed than try and depend on us and our friendship." I made an amused noise. "I'd be furious with you."

Usagi smiled softly to himself, raising his cup to take a sip from it but, finding it was cold by now, put it on the coffee table instead.

"Yet I cause arguments and resentment within your family and amongst yourselves." He said sadly.

I gave a chuckle. "I'm sorry Usagi but it's very obvious you're an only child."

He turned to blink at me and do his characteristic slight head tilt. "Eh?"

I gave him a brighter smile. "We'd fight even if you weren't here. Heck we'd fight even if nothing was wrong! We're brothers. It's what we do. It doesn't mean we hate each other!"

He merely continued to stare at me. I decided to drive the point home with a gamble.

"Don't you have arguments with people you're close to?"

Usagi gave a small flinch and at first I regretted taking a chance like that until I realised he'd done so out of amusement, trying not to laugh.

"Yes." He said, looking up and nodding. "Oh most definitely yes."

He actually smiled at me, a proper smile. I can't even remember the last day I saw him do that.

"In fact it seems most of my dearest friends are people who I find absolutely infuriating."

I laughed at this. "Welcome to my world." I didn't realise the irony of that statement till later.

We sat in silence for a few moments. I didn't know what else I could say, so I let what I'd already told him run through his mind a little. He was staring off again, thinking to himself. Eventually he turned back to me.

"You know Leonardo-san, you are a very wise person. Probably more so than half the people I know," He smiled again, but in a quiet manner this time. "I should never have belittled you the way I did. My behaviour as of late has been downright shameful... and I am sorry."

Somewhere inside me, something which had felt like it'd been tied in a knot for a few days now broke itself free and I found myself giving a long exhale. I smiled warmly at him, suddenly feeling much lighter.

"You're a good friend Usagi." Was all I said.

He smiled at me fondly in return.

He then sat up a little straighter and looked over his shoulder to the room behind him and the hallway leading to our rooms.

"Forgive my intrusion into your affairs, but I believe you should go speak to Mikey-kun."

I pulled a slight face. I was still mad at him for the utterly demented stunt he'd pulled.

"Leonardo-san." He went on, probably noticing my expression. "I believe he was merely trying to help. Even if he did end up causing more trouble than good, his intentions were noble." He pulled an expression I wasn't really able to read. "I was unable to sleep last night, and he was kind enough to offer me some comfort. I honestly believe he was merely trying to do something for my sake and to help the situation when he fought that monster."

I sighed. "I don't doubt that Usagi, but I still can't believe he'd be dumb enough to get himself into such a situation."

"He is frustrated." Usagi said. "It would be hypocritical of me to say I do not understand his feelings."

I made a noise, reluctantly agreeing. "Yeah but... he could've been killed."

Usagi smiled again. "Your concern is touching." was all he said to this.

Damn him.

I gave a groan and uncrossed my legs. "Ok ok. Fine. I'll go talk to him."

His smile stayed as he watched me round the couch. I gave him a sideways look.

"You're too damn crafty with your manipulation you know that?"

"_Wakarinai desu"_ he said, pretending he didn't understand a word I'd just said, though his face said otherwise.

I rolled my eyes, turning and walking towards Mikey's room.

Half-way there I stopped, the mental image of Mike's condition drifting into my memory. I turned and walked towards the kitchen instead. Our breakfast things were still lying on the table, me and Don's cereal had gone soggy by now. I took one of the empty bowls and poured some cereal into it, adding milk and a generous amount of sugar. I then got a second, smaller bowl and filled with with some lukewarm water. I turned and carried both bowls out of the room.

I walked down the hall to Mikey's door which was still closed. I could almost physically feel him sulking inside. I took a deep breath.

"Mike?"

There was no answer but I hadn't expected there to be. I didn't have a free hand to knock with, so I merely leaned against the door, trying to hear what was going on inside.

"Mikey open up." I said, using a gentle tone of voice and not a demanding one. Last thing I needed was for him to clam up. And man was it easy for Mikey to shut people out when he wanted to.

Still no reply. I felt a small bubble of worry start to grow in my stomach.

"Mikey please, it's Leo. I just wanna talk. I promise I won't yell."

Still nothing. I chewed my lip slightly.

"I'm coming in ok?" I pressed my shoulder against the door and pushed against it, forcing it open and stepping inside. We didn't have locks in our home. Master Splinter didn't believe a family should shut each other out for any reason. A lock was a sign of mistrust as far as he was concerned.

I looked around his room when I stepped inside. It was a mess but only in the way it was always a mess. Nothing seemed out of place so to speak. I spotted him on his bed. He had his shell to me, curled up tightly. He didn't look up or even react when I entered.

The bubble grew.

I walked over to the desk and put both bowls down carefully, I had to put one of them ontop of some comics which he might get annoyed about but I needed to get my hands free.

I walked over to his bunk, standing on my toes to be able to reach him properly.

"Mikey? You ok?" I reached out and gently put a hand on his shoulder.

He started violently with a sharp breath, rolling over and sitting up before staring at me wide-eyed.

"Hey woah woah woah! It's just me." I said taking a step back, startled myself.

He blinked at me wide-eyed for a few moments. "Leo?"

He sighed and relaxed, rubbing at his eyes with a noise. "What d'you want?"

I watched him quietly. "...Were you sleeping?"

"Mmm." He stopped his wiping and stared ahead, deliberately not looking at me.

I almost instinctively wanted to tell him not to sleep with his mask on, It was a choking hazard. But I swallowed it back. Now was not the time.

"I thought you might be hungry." I said gently, turning to get the bowl of cereal.

"I'm ok." He replied.

I picked up the bowl and turned back to him. "Are you sure? You didn't have breakfast and you said you were out all night. You'll feel better with some food in you." I gave him a careful smile. "Promise."

He stared at the bed for a moment, apparently thinking it over. He then nodded reluctantly.

I gave an inward sigh of relief, walking over to him and handing him up the bowl. He reached over and took it from me silently, placing it in his lap. He stared at it for a few moments before he started to eat.

I nodded, satisfied. I then turned and went to his small set of drawers, opening it up and pulling out a small face-towel with a little 'M' stitched on it. I then went to the desk and picked up the second bowl before turning back to the bunk.

I put the bowl on the bed and the towel in the bowl where it started to soak up the water. I then put both my hands on the mattress.

"Scootch over." I said.

He made a move that could've been a scootch I guess, but he didn't really clear much room. I didn't say anything though and climbed up on the bunk myself, sitting down on what little space there was left. I placed the second bowl in my own lap and turned to look at him.

He was staring at his cereal, eating silently as he refused to look at me.

I took the small towel and twisted it in my hands to rinse out the excess water before I shifted closer to him, raising it.

"Tilt." I requested.

He obliged and tilted his head slightly, turning the cut on his face towards me more. I reached out and carefully pressed the towel to it. He winced and made a small, smothered noise.

"Sorry." I apologised, gently wiping at the wound, clearing away the blood and dirt which had congealed there.

We said nothing as I cleaned the gash. It started to bleed again after a while and I put pressure to it carefully.

"Well, you're not gonna scar luckily." I said, turning to give him an encouraging smile. He hadn't said a thing so far and I really wanted to try and reach him. Best way to do that with Mike is not to ask questions, be kind and be patient, and if you're very lucky he might decide he was gonna open up to you.

He wasn't looking at me, staring off instead with a melancholic expression. It didn't look right with his cheerfully blue eyes and the sunny orange mask.

I felt my smile drop. "...I'm really sorry I yelled at you Mikey." I said carefully.

I dipped the towel into the now yellowish-pink water. "I was just upset because I was afraid something could've happened to you." I turned and took one of his hands, starting work on his knuckles. "I know you didn't mean to get in trouble. I was just angry because I didn't want you to get hurt."

"I know that." He said quietly.

I turned his hand to clean off the excess blood on it. I was relieved to find it didn't seem to be his. "I shouldn't have yelled though. I'm sorry I hurt your feelings."

I risked looking up to see what affect this was having on him. He looked distressed. He was blinking more than he should and I could feel the tendons in his hand tense slowly.

I dipped the towel in the water again. "I know you just wanted to help. Really I do. If you say you didn't mean to fight then I believe you. It doesn't matter what happened ok? I'm just glad you're safe and-"

"_Leo I really screwed up!"_ He burst out, his shoulders giving a bad lurch.

I blinked, alarmed. "Oh no. No no no, Mikey..."

He pulled his hand away from me and covered his face.

"_I messed up everything!"_

I picked up the bowl of water and moved it so I could shift closer. I sat myself beside him and put an arm around his shoulders.

"No it's ok. Nothing bad's happened to us because of this, we're ok. Everything's gonna be alright."

He turned and pressed himself against me, curling up. The bowl of cereal dropped from his lap and fell off the bed, spilling milk as it went before smashing to pieces on the floor.

"_I just wanted to help."_ He insisted, burying himself against me. "_That's all I wanted to do! I couldn't sit and watch every-one else suffer any-more! I hadda do something!"_

I put my other arm around him too and hugged him tighter. "I know, I know. It's ok. Don't cry Mikey. I'm not mad at you for it. Honest. You're ok now. You're not hurt and we're all still here and no-one blames you for anything. It'll be alright Mikey. I'm here."

He gave a sob and shrunk himself tighter against me. "_I'm sorry Leo... I'm really sorry..."_

I hushed him gently. "It's ok... I'm here..."

**Xxxxx**

_._


	14. Mikey's Report

_I don't own TMNT or UY._

**Xxxxx**

He cried for a long time.

It broke my heart to listen to him and not be able to do anything to make him feel better. He seemed really shaken up by this whole event. I was starting to get worried while at the same time getting angry at myself for the way I had blown up at him earlier. I really hurt him, I could see that. I didn't think what I said would have such a deep affect on him but then I'd forgotten that of all my brothers, Mikey tended to take things to heart the easiest. I can't remember everything I'd yelled at him this morning, I'd been so angry my words had come out in a rush and I could only remember my yelling as a blur. I wondered if I'd said something specific that could upset him this badly.

I rubbed his shoulder comfortingly. He'd been quiet for the last few minutes and I wondered if he'd finally managed to calm down. If he did though, he wasn't pulling away from me yet. His arms were pinned against his chest, his head buried just under mine against my collar-bone so I had to rest my chin on it slightly. His shoulders were still trembling against me and every few moments they'd give a stronger twitch, but other than that he didn't move.

Eventually I shifted very slightly, getting uncomfortable. "Mikey?"

I turned my head slightly to try and look at him but it was awkward to do so.

He said nothing and I wasn't sure if he'd heard me.

"Michelangelo," I tried again.

This time he moved a little before pulling away and sitting up straight again. He reached up and rubbed at his face before taking hold of his mask and pulling it down so it hung loosely around his neck. He then wiped at his eyes again. They were swollen and red, his tears had left long lines down his face as they'd cut paths through the dirt and mud that I hadn't wiped clean.

"Don't rub too hard Mike, you'll start bleeding again." I said, but I made sure to keep my tone of voice gentle so he'd know I wasn't trying to lecture him.

He stopped, bringing up his knees and resting his hands on them, a sign that he was still upset.

I looked him over quietly, my eyes coming to a stop on the darkening bruises on his throat. I could almost make out exactly how he'd been choked. The uneven marks where fingers had squeezed the sides of his neck and the larger, double bruise on his Adam's apple where some-one had pressed down with their thumbs, trying to crush his trachea. I winced inwardly.

"Did he hurt you?" I asked. I dunno how many times I'd asked him that already, but I couldn't help it.

Mikey seemed to have caught my train of thought because he reached up and put his own hand to his throat, rubbing it tenderly.

"...No." He lowered it again.

I watched him quietly, still not really convinced.

Mikey looked like he was struggling with something, pulling a slight face as he stared at his knees.

I frowned lightly. "What? What is it?"

He lifted his head, thinking.

"...There was something not right about that guy Leo." He said, his voice hoarse from crying.

I blinked. "What d'you mean?"

He paused for a moments before he shook his head. "At first... I really didn't think I could beat him. He was fast Leo. Like, insane fast. Like Sonic the hedgehog on steroids while hyped up on speed fast!"

I nodded. "I think I get the idea Mike" I said though not unkindly.

He pulled a slight face, thinking his words over before he said them. "It wasn't just that though. He didn't... move right. It was like he had God-Mode on or something. I dunno how ta describe it. It's like... he would be standing here." He indicated with his hands. "And then I'd move forward to attack but then it was like I saw wrong and he was really here." He moved his hand to match his explanation. "It was like a really creepy magic trick or something."

He shook his head. "But that's not what was weird."

My frown deepened. "It's not?"

He shook his head again. "Nu uh. What's weird is at first he was really kicking my butt. I mean like _really_ kicking my butt. Like I was starting to hope once he was done he wouldn't take my shell-cell so you'd guys be able to find me 'cause I'd probably b-."

He went silent, swallowing the end of his sentence hurriedly. I felt my stomach roll.

"An.. Anyway..." He shifted slightly. "He was really kicking my shell. I thought I was a goner. But then he seemed to start holding back." He frowned to himself. "It wasn't cause he was tired or anything. He just started easing up on me and started letting me get in a few hits of my own. Pretty painful ones too. And he started...."

Mikey faltered again, his frown turning into a more pained look.

I watched him with concern. "What?"

He swallowed. "He let me hit him more and more, and he started... saying things."

I blinked. "What things?"

"_Things."_ Mikey said, turning to give me a look that clearly said 'drop it'.

I made a noise but nodded. "Ok. Then what?"

"I got mad." He went on. "And the more he talked the... ...the madder I got." He clenched his fists. "But he wouldn't shut up, and I got angrier and angrier." He gave his head a shake but not at me. "And the madder I got the more he let me hit him till he wasn't fighting back at all... but I kept hitting him anyway."

He pulled his knees closer to his chest, his shoulders tensing and starting to shake again.

"I kept hitting him till.. ..till I realised what I was doing and I.. .I ran." He wrapped his arms around himself. "I ran away. He didn't even chase me. I know I... I beat him up pretty badly but he could've chased me of he wanted to. I know it. But he just let me go and I.. ..I ran back home."

I stared at him, very surprised at what I was hearing. I knew when Mikey got angry enough he'd lash out and do so very hard, but usually if he was furious it was almost as if he turned into a different person. Some-one focused, calculating and cold, knowing exactly where to hit his opponent to do the most damage and bring them down the quickest. But to hear him say he just lost control... I'd never seen him do that. That was something Raph did when he was in a rage and even then I'd only seen Raph go that far on very rare occasions and usually only because one of us had been badly hurt by some-one and Raph went into revenge mode. Maybe Mikey was being overly hard on himself and it wasn't really as bad as it sounded. I really can't picture Michelangelo as a violent person. He's too innocent, too friendly and too optimistic for me to see him as some-one who'd really try to hurt any-one unless it was in self-defence.

"He sounds like he was toying with you." I said, pushing these thoughts aside for now.

Mikey pulled a face and nodded, still staring at his knees.

I said nothing for a few moments, watching him quietly.

"But you didn't hurt him too badly did you?" I asked eventually.

Mikey didn't move for a few moments before he shook his head. "No. He was still conscious when I left him."

I nodded. "So you couldn't have flipped out too badly right?"

He shook his head yet again but much harder this time. "You weren't there Leo."

I gave him a smile. "No. But I know you."

He seemed to think something over but he didn't reply to this and I was sad to see my words didn't seem to comfort him.

He sighed and placed his forehead on his knees. "I thought maybe I could find something that would help us, but I guess I didn't learn anything huh?"

I put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey. You got an idea of how this guy fights right? If it ever comes to that we could really use that information."

Mikey turned an eye to blink at me but didn't move.

I tilted my head sideways so I could look at him better. I gave a small shrug. "Better than nothing."

He thought about this. "Yeah. I guess so."

I nodded, straightening and shifting to get off the bed. "Come on."

He lifted his head to watch me. "Huh?"

I got down before turning and offering him a hand. "Come on. You should get yourself cleaned up before Master Splinter sees you and has a heart attack. I'll clean up this mess." I indicated towards the broken bowl and the spilled cereal.

He grumbled at me. "I'm not a little kid Leo, you don't need to mommy me."

I kept my hand held out as I smiled very slightly. "I know."

He frowned at me for a few moments longer before uncurling and taking my hand, getting down from his bed. I patted his shell as he moved to leave the room.

"You'll be ok Mike." I said, trying to sound supportive.

He said nothing, but turned to give me an appreciative smile. It didn't look like his heart was in it though.

After I'd cleaned up the mess in Mikey's room I took the surviving bowl back to the kitchen, washing it out and making sure to clean it thoroughly before putting it away.

Once I was done I placed my hands on the counter, putting my weight on them and giving a sigh. I took the opportunity to just stand in silence for a few moments.

I care for them all very deeply but I just needed a few seconds without any brothers or distressed friends or people asking me what we're going to do next. I'm very good at handling pressure but I was starting to feel like I'd been running a non-stop marathon and there was still no end in sight. I could handle it though, I honestly could. But I just needed 5 minutes to myself, to just be Leo and not the Leader or the big brother or the consoling friend. I could go back to that no problem. But I just needed my 5 minutes.

It was silent. I could hear the fridge hum softly but apart from that there was no other sound. I closed my eyes, breathing slowly. With no distractions I could now feel my own mind racing. Everything that'd happened spun around and around in my head. Usagi was lost in the city. Usagi needed help. Usagi had a son. There was a strange man who could jump portals. The man was working for Bishop. Usagi yelled at me. He called me a child. Raph was angry at me. Mikey almost got killed. Usagi felt responsible. Mikey was upset. And all of them... all of them were depending on me to fix everything.

I took a deep breath. I let these thoughts run wild for a few minutes before I opened my eyes again.

Mikey was ok. He had only meant to help. He had wanted to do something for Usagi to lessen his misery. Raph was worried. He wanted to help but he didn't know how and was frustrated. And Usagi had apologised. He'd openly said that he was wrong. That he didn't see me as a naive kid, and that he really did value me as a friend, and he trusted me enough to let me know how he was really feeling under his courageous mask. And that he thought highly enough of me to put his faith in my skills as not only a fighter but as a leader.

As crippling as the bad things were, these positive things were also all facts and I needed to remember them. More importantly I wanted to help. I wanted to help Usagi, I wanted to encourage Mikey and I wanted them all to be able to turn to me for support and comfort and leadership. I wanted them to because I wanted to be there for them, and I wanted to be the one who saw them through this so that when we come out at the other end and everything is back to normal I will know that I had been the one they had relied on and that they hadn't needed to try and carry all the weight all by themselves. That I was able to spare them some suffering.

I straightened, breathed in deeply and then exhaled.

Alright then.

I turned to leave the kitchen and nearly fell over from shock at seeing Master Splinter standing in the doorway.

"Sensei you scared the shell out of me!" I yelped.

He gave me a smile. "You seemed deep in thought and I did not wish to disturb you."

I breathed a sigh, my pounding heart calming down. "Yeah but try clearing your throat next time or something."

He said nothing but I saw the smile widen slightly, he seemed amused at my almost-heart-attack.

He came closer. "I was going to reprimand you for your behaviour earlier, but I see you have managed to diffuse your own fire. So consider that to have been your punishment."

I'll admit I was very relieved. I'd been dreading Master Splinter's lecture and at least it was one less thing for me to worry about. Still though;

"I am sorry Master Splinter." I said, bowing my head. "I embarrassed you in front of our guest."

He stared at me thoughtfully. "I was more concerned that you and your brothers were turning on each other than I was Miyamoto-san witnessing your bickering."

I tensed a little. "I'm sorry Sensei. It was my fault, I over-reacted."

He waved a hand as if to brush the issue aside. "Yes. But you appear to have mended your mistake and restored peace." He gave me a more serious expression. "But tell me. Donatello said that you were angry because Michelangelo had been in a fight with this man who stole Miyamoto-san's son."

I nodded. "Yes Sensei."

I saw him drop his emotional guard slightly. "Is he badly wounded?"

I shook my head. "No Sensei. Some bad bruising and a cut on his face but nothing to be overly concerned about."

Master Splinter nodded, relaxing a little. "That is good."

Watching him, I felt a certain amount of understanding form in my mind. Master Splinter was worried about us because we'd been arguing, and because he'd heard Mikey had been in a fight. It hadn't even been that big a deal and he already knew Mikey wasn't too badly hurt, and yet he was still worried about us and needed to know we were all ok. Usagi had no idea how _his_ son was doing. If_ he_ was ok. He had no way of knowing if he was hungry or scared or hurt. He didn't know and there was no way for him to find out.

I felt a slight lump grow in my throat in sympathy but I quickly suppressed it.

"Master Splinter." I said. "I dunno about you but I'm ready to find Usagi's son and rescue him."

Master Splinter smiled again and gave a nod.

I smiled back, turning to leave the kitchen for real this time, full of determination.

I walked into the main room, planning to go find Don to first see if he's feeling better and second to hear if he'd started work on the virus again today. Perhaps that's a little heartless of me. I really was worried about Donny and if we'd upset him or not, but I was so anxious to do something right now I couldn't help wondering about his project as well. We couldn't do anything till he was finished.

Raph walked past me, something tucked under his arm. He purposefully bumped an elbow against me aggressively as he passed.

I frowned lightly but decided to let it slide.

"Hey!" I called after him.

He stopped and turned to me, his face saying he was ready for a rematch.

"Feeling better?" I asked carefully

He glared back at me slightly. "How's Mikey?"

I nodded. "I had a talk with him and I think we're ok"

"Then I'm feeling better." He turned to walk away again, clearly still annoyed with me for whatever reason.

He went over to the couch, taking the thing he was carrying in both hands and unwrapping it, revealing it to be a blanket.

I frowned, confused.

"What are you doing?" I asked, coming over.

"What's it look like?" he grumbled, giving me a dirty look as he threw the blanket down carefully.

I came closer and rounded the couch to see what was going on. I stopped in my tracks and blinked, taken aback.

Usagi had fallen asleep on the couch, lying on his side and resting his head on an arm. Raph had just covered him carefully. I turned to stare at my brother.

I gave me a challenging look, daring me to say something as he gave a half-shrug. "He looked cold."

He then turned and started to head for the kitchen.

I watched him go, feeling myself smile.

**Xxxxx**

_I have finished chapter 16 of this fic and I just wanted to report and say that I'm feeling the groove again :) hopefully it will last. These few chapters before it though I'm still iffy about XD;_


	15. The Virus

_I don't own TMNT or UY. Also I'm no programmer so excuse my lack of tech-savvy XD;_

**Xxxxx**

I gave a sigh, arching my back and stretching my arms above my head. I could feel my wrists were starting to cramp with early signs of carpal tunnel syndrome. I gave them a shake as I stared at the wall of text on the screen in front of me. I'd finally finished coding my program and now I took the time to sit back and observe my work, as an artist would his painting or sculpture. Ha, I guess it's rather ironic if you think about it that way, considering my namesake.

I found myself yawning and I turned to check the time on my computer. It was nearly 2 in the morning. Not really that late by my standards but my lack of sleep was starting to affect me. I was anxious to let the others know I'd finished the virus so that we could discuss what we were going to do next, but they were probably all asleep by now, especially considering the rather upsetting day we had.

Usagi had come into the room having heard our entire argument, followed by Master Splinter who wanted to know what was going on. I needed to get away from all the hostility so I excused myself and left, knowing Leo would sort it out. Usually I took it upon myself to try and mediate arguments between my brothers if I saw it was needed but this one had been too deep rooted and too explosive. I felt drained by the end of it. I had gone to my computer simply because I knew if I was sitting down in front of it the others would leave me alone, so even if I was unable to focus and get work done I could at the very least just get some peace and quiet. However Master Splinter had followed me and I knew if he wanted to talk to me I couldn't just brush him off.

He'd wanted to know what had happened between us. At first I was a little confused as to why he didn't ask Leo to give him the details but I realised since Leo had been the one who'd been yelling the loudest he probably wanted to hear it from some-one less involved in the fight. Also, Leo was probably talking to Usagi. If anything I hope seeing Usagi dismayed at our fighting would get the two of them talking openly again. Anyway, I told Master Splinter how Leo and Raph had riled each other up in the kitchen before we discovered Mikey's condition. I must admit I kinda downplayed how Mikey looked when we saw him, I didn't want Sensei to get overly worried, especially not since I had the unpleasant task of telling our father what his youngest son had done. Even with me downplaying how messed up Mikey was I could clearly see the horror on Sensei's face at the news. I made damn sure to reassure him that if Mikey was feeling well enough to yell back he can't be hurt that badly. It seemed to help a little but he still looked heavily concerned. He then excused himself and left, probably to go check on Mikey himself.

I started work on my virus after that. I suppose it was quite a while later when Leo came into the room, I hadn't really been watching the time. At first I was apprehensive about speaking to him but when I saw he had a slight smile on his face I relaxed. I didn't ask him what was happening with the others but I could tell he'd managed to patch up the fight. I was impressed, he was getting better and faster at keeping the peace between us.

I was kinda touched when he asked me if I was upset by what had happened. True I felt a little unsettled but it didn't really bother me more than it should, but I still appreciated Leonardo's concern. He asked me about my virus and I was happy to try and give him a watered down summary of my progress but sadly, he seemed to get a little overwhelmed by the technicalities of it. Eventually I had to settle for 'it's coming along fine and I should be finished either today or tomorrow'. He seemed really happy about this and left me to my work. It felt good to see him so energised by my progress. It's what I live for.

Not much to tell after that. Just a lot of programming, a bag of Doritos and a large amount of coffee.

And here I was now; my program completed and no-one to praise me for my hard work. I sighed, standing up and cracking my hip bones back into place. I should get some sleep now that I was done. The others will probably want to spring into action pretty quickly once they heard I was done and I'd need to keep my wits about me when we start discussing how we're going to implant this into Bishop's system. I wasn't too sure about that part yet.

I picked up my mug and the empty chip bag and left my workstation to clean up before I went to bed. I wondered if I could get into bed without waking Leo. I could use it as an opportunity to test my ninja skills, but I doubt I could slip past him undetected. Poor guy. He's really been trying to to cope with a lot, he deserved some sleep.

I entered the main room and was about to go into the kitchen when I spotted the white ears by the couch. I blinked, surprised to see Usagi was up. Feeling a little concerned, I walked over to him instead, carrying my mug and bag with me.

"Usagi-san?"

He sat up straighter and turned to look at me.

"Oh, Donatello-san. I did not know any-one else was awake." I was relieved when he gave me a friendly smile. "_Konbanwa."_ He bid me good evening.

"More like _ohayou_." I corrected him, stating how it was already morning.

He gave a slight chuckle at this. I smiled, relieved beyond belief to hear him laugh. I came closer though, still concerned as to why he was awake.

"There's still some time before sunrise. Shouldn't you be getting some rest?"

His smile stayed but he gave me a rather embarrassed look. "I have had difficulty sleeping as of late and I am afraid it seems to have caught up with me, I slept through most of the day." He pulled a face almost like a sulk which I couldn't help but grin at. "I think Leonardo-san must have taken amusement in this because he did not think to wake me."

I sat down on the couch's arm-rest, unable to keep down a laugh. "Nah. He's worried about you. He probably just wanted you to get some rest."

"Hmm." He mused at this. "I am starting to feel like some sickly old woman. Every-one is meeting my needs and I have done very little so far. It is not how I usually handle situations."

I smiled more sympathetically. "Yeah, but to be fair we haven't really done anything you'd be able to help with."

He sighed restlessly but he seemed to agree. "I do not fully understand what it is we are waiting for, but I am anxious to do something practical."

I nodded in understanding. I thought for a moment before I slid down the arm-rest and onto the couch itself. "Well ya know, I just finished my virus so tomorrow we're probably gonna decide how we'll go about getting it into Bishop's network." I smiled brightly at him.

He gave me a blank stare.

I blinked back before I realised he had no idea what I was talking about. Oh boy. How do you even begin to explain the mere concept behind computers to a 16th century samurai?

"Uhm... ok." I tried to get my thoughts in order. How the shell am I gonna word this? "I've finished creating the uhm... thing, which will gather information for us directly from Bishop's building. So tomorrow we just have to figure out how to get it inside."

Well he understood _that_ because I saw him perk up and nod eagerly. "So you have made progress?"

"Yeah. Once we know where Jotaro is and how Bishop's building is set up we can go in and start doing some damage!" I gave him a grin.

"And that is what this device you have built will tell us?" He asked.

I nodded, glad to have an audience. "If everything goes the way it's suppose to, which I made sure it will! Even if Bishop's internal Virus scanners track it and destroy it, it should get enough info for us to make a move."

Usagi was still smiling. "I do not fully understand but I am still very glad to hear it."

I laughed again. It always makes me feel good when I feel I've really done something to help. I was also really happy that my progress was improving Usagi's mood, even if he didn't get everything I was saying.

His smile fell a little though and he became thoughtful. I watched him for a little, not sure whether I should leave and let him think. Just as I was about to get up he spoke.

"Donatello-san."

I settled down again. "What's up?"

"This person you and your brothers are familiar with. This 'Bishop'. What type of enemy is he?"

My heart did a double beat before it calmed down again.

"He is very dangerous." I said truthfully. "He's obsessed with protecting our world from outside invaders. So much so that he doesn't care who he has to step on, as long as it benefits 'the greater good'. He doesn't do it in a noble manner either. He's not trying to protect the people of this world or the leaders of this world, in fact he'd be willing to put them in danger if it means it'll help his cause of protecting the world itself."

Usagi made a noise. "That does not make sense."

I gave a hollow laugh. "I know."

Usagi shook his head. "But what does this have to do with us? We have never shown any hostility towards your world. Every time Gen and I have visited we have always been discrete." He paused for a moment, remembering Gennosuke's little adventure last time they were both here. "Or at least we have never done anything openly aggressive that might paint us a threat."

I sighed and nodded. "I have no idea Usagi. Inter-dimensional travel isn't exactly Bishop's area of expertise. It's a complete mystery to me."

Usagi merely nodded, sinking slightly. "What would he want with an innocent child?"

I sunk a little myself. "I don't know."

We said nothing for a few moments.

"Will he harm him Donatello-san?"

He turned to stare at me, but it wasn't the stare he'd given me last time he'd asked me a question I wish I had a better answer for. He wasn't demanding a truthful response with an officer's glare, it was the softer, more desperate stare that I'd seen Master Splinter give me on several occasions in the past. I didn't know what to tell him. I couldn't tell him what Bishop had tried to do to us when he caught us. I couldn't tell him what Bishop had done to our friend Leatherhead when he had the croc in captivity. I couldn't tell him about what Bishop had indirectly done to me not so long ago. None of it was comforting, and all it would do was take years off the samurai's life. But I couldn't lie. He deserved more than that.

"I don't know Usagi." I said yet again. "I've never heard of him using a child in his schemes. I've also never heard of him harming a child to further his own plans." I sighed. "But I don't want to give you false hope."

Usagi gave me an appreciative smile sadly. "It is alright my friend. I was merely hoping you could give me an unbridled 'no' if possible."

I nodded, but I was unhappy that I couldn't put his fears to rest.

He shook his head slightly. "But now I am merely keeping you from sleep. I apologise."

"Don't worry about it. I'm not really tired." I lied.

He seemed almost relieved at this. "Then I am grateful for your company."

I shifted and sat up a little. "Since we're on the topic, what's Jotaro like?" I felt a little silly asking when he tilted his head at the question. "If.. if you don't mind." I added, giving him a sheepish smile.

Usagi however gave a slight laugh at this. "He is a terrific child."

There was something complex in his smile that followed. "He was raised very well."

I couldn't help smiling again myself. "Tell me."

Perhaps it wasn't smart of me to ask Usagi about his son when the boy was still in danger, but he seemed pretty open to talk and told me a little about Jotaro. He didn't go into the sensitive details regarding the boy's mother and I didn't ask. I enjoyed hearing him talk about the kid with clear affection in his voice. So much so that I was alarmed when Mikey walked into the room and I realised it was already morning. He seemed just as surprised to see us as I was to see him.

I turned to face him over the top of the couch a little better.

"Hey." I greeted him gently.

He frowned a little, looking kinda self-conscious. "G'morning."

He looked a lot better. Being clean and rested had a lot to do with it I guess. The cut on his face looked less angry and without the dirt and grime he didn't seem to be as badly bruised as I thought he was. Still...

"Sleep well?" I asked, giving him a smile.

"Yeah." He said as he walked past us, heading for the kitchen.

"Making breakfast?" I called after him.

"Yeah." The simple reply came back.

I pulled a slight face and sighed, turning back to Usagi and giving a shrug.

The samurai wasn't looking at me though. He was staring at the room behind us with a very confused and perhaps even slightly alarmed expression.

I blinked. "Hey. You ok?" I asked, suddenly concerned.

"What is _that?_" He said, nodding towards the room.

I frowned and turned to see what he was talking about. I spotted the small orange ball of fur that had followed Mikey out his room and was busy trotting after him to the kitchen hungrily.

I turned back to Usagi, confused. "That's Klunk."

Usagi kept his eyes locked on the little guy.

"....It is a cat." He said blankly.

I frowned and nodded. "Yeah?"

Usagi stared at him before turning to the front again with a disbelieving sigh and leaned his head against the back of the couch. "This is the strangest place I have ever been to in my life."

I was really puzzled by this until I realised that the only cats Usagi knew were anthropomorphic. In fact I believed some of his friends were, in fact, cats.

I couldn't help but laugh

-----

A little while later, Every-one had woken up and we'd assembled in the kitchen for some breakfast. Mikey hadn't really gone all out today I noticed, merely settling for heating up some Eggo, but then I couldn't blame him for not putting his full attention into the food. He seemed a little off kilter, I figured he must be a little sore from yesterday. I made a mental note to make sure he takes some Tylenol or something later.

While we ate I informed my family about the completion of my virus and how now all we needed to do was get it into Bishop's computer network and it should open a 'back door' as it were so that I could hack in and get a hold of the files we needed.

"So wait a minute." Leo said. "You need this virus because you can't hack into Bishop's network on your own right?"

I rolled my eyes and nodded. "It's a government agency Leo, they're a little more up to date than your average computer owner."

Leo frowned at me. "Then how are you planning to get the virus into his network if you can't access it?"

"Well, I was kinda hoping you'd help me with that part." I gave him a apologetic smile.

Usagi made a noise and shook his head slightly. "I am confused." He complained, clearly aggravated by the whole conversation.

"Donny needs ta get into the building so he can leave his computer-thingy which'll tell us how ta get into the building." Raph translated, rather accurately I must say.

Usagi pulled a face. "That does not sound promising."

"No it don't." Raph said. He didn't mean it quite the way it sounded but it irritated me all the same.

"Donatello." Master Splinter spoke up.

He was sitting beside Michelangelo. I had a sneaking suspicion that under the table he'd curled his tail around Mikey's chair protectively.

"Is there any way for you to plant your program without physically entering the building?"

I thought about this for a few moments. "Well, I myself won't be able to enter the building at all. I'll need to be at my computer to hack once the virus takes effect. But as for getting the virus into the system I'm not really sure, I mean it's not like I can just e-mail it to him."

"What about April? Can't she-" Mikey started.

"No!" I blurted out a little too urgently.

Luckily Leo had said the same thing just as I did, deflecting some of the attention I would've gotten from my outburst. Even so I felt my cheeks warm slightly.

"I don't want April and Casey to get involved in this." Leo said. "I don't want them within 40 feet of anything Bishop's involved with. Besides, Bishop knows who they are. It'll be just as risky for them to get in the building as it would be for us."

I merely nodded, agreeing.

Mikey sulked slightly at having his suggestion shot down but said nothing else.

"What about a turtle-bot?" Leo said. "They're small and mobile. Can you modify one into something we could use?"

"Hmm." I thought about this. It was actually a pretty good idea. "I could configure one with a USB drive and make it upload the virus into Bishop's system via remote control." I said, giving Leo an appreciative smile. "Shouldn't take me more than 5 minutes."

Leo smiled back and gave a purposeful nod. "Then we're making our move tonight. Nothing big. We're delivering Don's robot and we're keeping watch till he's done getting what he needs. How much time do you need Don?"

I did a quick calculation. "With the virus in place I'll be able to get in quickly but chances are Bishop's got some kind of internal protection program which'll nullify my virus after a few minutes. Including the time it'll take to get over to a computer via turtle-bot I'd say... maybe 2 hours. More if you plan to retrieve the little guy once its done its job." I would've preferred not to lose one of my machines but I knew that if it was too risky I couldn't ask my brothers to try and get the little robot back for me.

Leo nodded and turned to the others.

"_Eto_...." Usagi 'uhm'ed hesitantly. "I am still not really sure what it is we are doing."

"We're going to Bishop's building to drop off one of Donny's machines which'll then retrieve the information we need by itself while we wait." Leo interpreted for him patiently.

Usagi gave a slight grumble. "Waiting waiting nothing but waiting!"

I felt a little uneasy and glanced at Leo, but I was very relieved when he gave Usagi an understanding smile.

"Last step before we go on the offensive Usagi-san." he said.

"But by tonight I'll be able to tell you if Jotaro's ok or not for sure." I added, smiling at him.

He cheered up at this considerably and gave me a nod. "Thank you Donatello-san."

I smiled back at him, glad to be of help, but I could see Raph in the corner of my eye looking less than optimistic, and Mikey staring at the half-eaten waffle in his plate with a disheartened expression.

**Xxxxx**

_I've fallen ill so I might be a little slow with my chapter updates till I get better (like.. they'll probably be updated every second day and not every day or something XDD). However, again I want to report I've just finished writing chapter 17... and it was awesome to write 8DD_

_Note: For those who have not read any Usagi Yojimbo comics. In Usagi's universe the only "true" animals are birds, fish, the tokage lizards and horses (this might inculde other hoofed animals but I'm not sure). Every-one else is anthropomorphic. Just thought I'd point that out._


	16. Information

_I don't own TMNT or UY._

**Xxxxx**

I gotta tell ya, I'm with Usagi on this one. All we've been doing is running around in the dark. Hell you can't even say that! We've been _sitting_ around in the dark! I was so sick of all this planning and pussyfooting around! Even after Donny told us he'd finished his virus this morning, we're _still_ doing nothing but waiting and watching! I mean I'm not an idiot and I know all this stuff was important but it was driving me nuts! What's even worse was that I knew there was really no other way to handle this situation unless we wanted to risk getting some-one killed. Leo knew this, and it seems he and Usagi had patched things up 'cause the rabbit, despite his restlessness, was trying to to follow his example and be patient. 'Course he was having a hard time doing so, but throughout the course of the day whenever he seemed to get overly twitchy Leo was able to calm him down. In short they were best buds again. Wish I knew how the heck they'd managed to work out their issues so easily.

I won't lie, I was relieved. Their weird tension had really started to piss me off. They were both being idiots! But I was glad it was over with and they'd seemed to find some kind of understanding between them. It made me feel better and less edgy myself. Now if only we could stop all this stupid espionage stuff and get to the action.

I was still kinda mad at Mikey too. He shoulda asked me to go with him if he was gonna do something crazy. Yeah I know how that reflects on me, but really I don't mean it like that. If he was feeling jumpy enough to do something instead of sitting around I wish he didn't try to do it by himself. I mean I would've told him it wasn't a good idea and try to talk him out of it but even if I wasn't able to, at least he wouldn't have been alone. Stupid, pudding-brained dink! As soon as he's feeling more like himself again I was gonna kick his ass so bad for scaring me like that!

Once he starts feeling like himself again that is. Maybe it was just 'cause he got his butt kicked around a bit but something didn't seem right with him today. Normally I'd think it was just me being overly-sensitive but I couldn't shake this weird feeling I was getting from him. He just seemed kinda off. He was kinda quiet, for Mikey anyway, and he seemed almost depressed which scared the crap outta me. Mikey's kinda like our 'shit-creek-o-meter'. If he's running around and driving us nuts then we're still ok, but when he starts getting scared and moody you know we're in deep trouble.

This seemed different though. I dunno. Guess I'm just over-protective. I told myself to make sure and not give him a hard time for a while, despite feeling kinda tense. I'll save up that aggravation for when this jackass in the blue suit rears his head again. I got a bone to pick with him.

At least we were outside now, even if we were still doing the annoying info-gathering crap. It kinda gave the illusion that we were doing something physical at least.

I frowned at the building across the street, crouching down on the ledge of the roof we were on. Leo was crouched on my left and Usagi on my right. Usagi didn't really need to be there since I was just acting as Leo's back-up but he wanted to come. Donny was back at the Lair doing his computer stuff with Mikey keeping him company.

Usagi gave a sigh, shifting from a crouch into a sit. "This is most frustrating."

"I heard that." I agreed.

"Take it easy guys. If nothing's happening it just means its working." Leo tried to calm us.

I grumbled but kept quiet, watching the building.

"How's it going Don?" Leo spoke into his headset.

"_Can't talk now Leo. Working._" I heard the reply come through my own headset as well as my bro's. I rolled my eyes.

"Will he be much longer?" Usagi asked, fingering the hilt of his wakizashi absentmindedly.

I shrugged. "Dunno, but if he's tellin' us ta shut up that's a good sign."

Leo nodded.

Usagi sighed. "If you say so."

He shifted and curled his legs under himself, sitting in the traditional _seiza_ position Master Splinter made us use when we were in training. I have no idea why he'd torture himself sitting like that if he didn't have to.

"_Oh! There it goes!"_ Donny's voice suddenly spoke up in my ear.

Leo blinked. "What's up Don?"

"_Bishop's security programs just fried my virus. I've been shut out."_

I saw Leo pull a worried face. "Did you manage to get anything?"

I heard Don's voice give a laugh. _"Come on Leo! Give me a little credit huh? I managed to grab a lot! I dunno how useful all of it will be, but I managed to get quite a few files with 'specimen' in their titles"_

Leo smiled at this, relaxing. "Good job Don! Nothing out of the ordinary over here. Doesn't look like they've discovered your bot."

"Great!" I said, getting up and dusting my hands. "Can we get outta here?!"

Leo thought for a moment. "I think we should recover the turtle-bot first." He said. "But I can do that myself. You two go home and hear what Donny's found."

I gave a low growl at this and shook my head. "Forget it Leo. I ain't leavin' you here alone."

He frowned at me lightly. "I'll be ok Raph. It's no big deal."

I made a noise, crossing my arms. I wasn't sure how to say this without sounding like a complete sap. "Yeah but I still don' like it. I'd rather stick around if ya don't mind. I don' wanna miss out on any possible action." I gave him a toothy grin and rubbed my knuckles against the palm of my other hand meaningfully, hoping to mask my concern. Last thing I needed was to give him the satisfaction of knowing I was worrying about him.

Leo gave me a disapproving look. "There's not gonna be any action. Looking for a fight is the _last_ thing I'm planning to do."

I frowned at him darkly. "Don't mean ya won't find one, and if you get ta beat the crap outta Bishop without me I'm gonna be very ticked off."

"I agree with Raphael-san." Usagi said.

I turned to gawk at the rabbit. I was surprised by the support and by the look on his face, so was Leo.

Usagi met our stares with a serious expression. "I do not know this 'Bishop' Person but I would not feel comfortable leaving you here by yourself Leonardo-san, regardless of how skilled you are."

I had to stop myself from smirking. So I'm not the only one feeling a little paranoid huh? Well, better Usagi saying it out loud than me. Leo'll listen to him.

He blinked at Usagi. "Are you sure?"

Usagi gave a nod. "The information Donatello-san has gathered will still be there when we get back." He eased up and gave Leo a slight smile. "I have waited so long for news, I can wait a short while longer."

I frowned, I didn't like him putting himself out like this for us. I mean he's been going ballistic with worry about his kid, and now here he was, putting off finding out if he was ok just so he could make sure we didn't get into trouble. It didn't seem right. Still, I wasn't gonna be the one to tell him to go home.

Leo looked unhappy about it too, but nodded. "Alright. But then we head straight home."

Usagi nodded. "With haste."

-----

Nothing crazy happened while we waited for Donny to get his little robot outta the building via remote control. Once the thing scurried out the door, Leo dropped down and scooped it up before we high-tailed it outta there. After that we ran all the way home, and I do mean ran. At first we were just making good time but as we got closer, Usagi started speeding up until he was full-out sprinting the rest of the way. At one point Leo told him to slow down so we could keep up which he did for _exactly_ 5 minutes before he broke into a gallop again. Leo didn't bother telling him to cool it a second time and neither did I. I mean how could we blame the guy for wanting to get home so badly? Hell I was getting worked up myself! I had to know if his boy was ok.

The last couple of days I've not exactly been confident about how the kid was doing. I mean I was hoping he was still ok of course, but based on Bishop's track record I wasn't daring to be hopeful. Yeah, I know that's extremely depressing and pessimistic of me but honestly, I just couldn't face the idea of believing the boy was still alive and then have all my hopes crushed into the ground when we find out he isn't. And then of course you gotta add to that how Usagi would react if this turns out to be the truth.

I flinched inwardly at the idea of what he'd do if it turns out the boy was dead. I mean I'm no expert as far as Feudal Japan goes but I'm sure whatever honour, duty or bushido required him to do to himself for losing a kid whose safety was entrusted to him wouldn't be pretty. I shuddered and tried to force the mental images that followed out of my head. I don't care what Leo thinks; no offence to Usagi but the way things are done in his dimension or time period or whatever are highly and severely fuc-

"Still keeping up Raph?!" Leo called, interrupting my thoughts.

I realised I was starting to slow as I was thinking. I sneered and sped up again.

"Just givin' ya a head-start bro!" I retorted.

It didn't take long before we slipped down a man-hole and ran into the lair. We were all three out of breath, but you wouldn't know it to look at Usagi. He looked around the main room expectingly.

"_Tadaima!"_ He called out, pretty much the Japanese equivalent of 'Honey I'm home!'.

I was kinda surprised by this show of familiarity regarding our home but somehow I found it amusing. I didn't think he meant it the way it came across though, he was probably just trying to alert Donny that we were back so he could hear what the brainiac had found out.

A head popped up from the couch and Mikey blinked at us. "Geez. That was fast."

Leo nodded, still panting slightly. "We ran. Where's Donny?"

Mikey pointed in the direction of Don's lab slash study slash I have no idea what to call it exactly. "He's working on those file thingies."

Leo nodded, turning to head the way Mike pointed, giving Usagi a tug on his kimono sleeve. "Come on!"

Usagi nodded and ran after him. Jeez. They were acting like they were 5! I knew how the felt though, I could feel my own heart pounding and it wasn't from the run. I turned to go after them when I slowed, turning back to Mikey.

"You comin' or what?" I asked, frowning at him irritably. For some reason it annoyed me that he wasn't as eager to hear what Don had to say as the rest of us. I can't tell you why though, it just bugged me.

He nodded, getting up and walking over to follow me. My frown deepened as I watched him, starting to walk as well. "What's the matter? You feeling sick?"

He frowned at me and shook his head. "Nu uh."

I grumbled at him, speeding up my pace to join the others. "Then hurry up!"

Walking into Don's work-place I saw Usagi and Leo busy crowding him. Don was busy explaining something to the two of them that sounded kinda technical to me. I came over, ready to beat his over-sized head in if he didn't tell us how the kid was doing instead of talking us to death. I stood myself next to Leo and elbowed him out of the way slightly, but not enough to start a fight. I dunno why. It was just a reflex. He didn't take offence. On the other side, Mikey crouched down next to Usagi, staring at Don't computer screen.

"So what're we lookin' at?" I said, not wanting to miss anything.

"I was just saying how I wasn't able to get my hands on a floor plan." Don said, almost apologetically. "but I've managed to get a good number of files on some of Bishop's specimens. One of them has got to be Jotaro's. I've also got a basic schematic of what sort of security system he's got set up there and, get this, some personal files regarding those in his employment including classified minutes taken at some meetings. I only managed to grab a hand-full of those though before Bishop's Anti-virus booted me out."

I gave him a look. "Ya managed ta get all that but no floor plan? Good job Don."

I knew I was irritating him but I didn't have time to listen to all the technicalities right at this moment. I just wanted to know if Jotaro was ok. Because if he's not. ..I dunno... I dunno 'if he's not'.

Don gave me a slight glare but didn't respond to me directly. "Anyway; while waiting for you guys to get back, I've been trying to sort through these files regarding his specimens to see how he's labelled them. I didn't want to sit here going through each one individually. There's at least over a hundred of them" He opened up a long list of icons and started scrolling through them. "Seems he's got them categorized according to 'date acquired', level of importance and how threatening the specimen itself is. So;" He reached out and started typing something rapidly. "If we assume he's categorized Jotaro under the time Usagi arrived, plus putting the importance level in as 'high' seeing as he kidnapped the boy recently and it's clearly in conjunction to whatever he's working on at the moment, and putting the specimen threat level low because he's a child, it should narrow it down a little."

He hit a few buttons and the row of icons on the list shrunk quite a bit. I frowned as I watched. I didn't bother trying to remember all the details of what Don just said, I just bit my tongue and waited until I saw some results on the screen in front of me.

"Ok. Here we go." Don said. I noticed his knuckles whiten on the mouse and his shoulders tense. "First file."

He double clicked the icon and a sheet that looked almost like some kind of internet profile popped up. It had a serial number at the top followed by some vital-statistics and then a long list of entries kinda like a diary, each of them dated. On the left of the screen was a mug-shot. The creature in the picture glared back at us with large, green orbs for eyes and a wicked sneer.

Don sighed and closed it. "No dice. Next."

He clicked the next icon. Again the profile filled the screen. The face that stared at us was dark and slender, with high cheek bones and thin slits for nostrils. It kinda looked like a snake but with more human features.

Don closed it before opening the next one.

I didn't count how many files we went through, maybe 8 or so. Usagi shifted his weight but said nothing. He had a hand on the ridge of Don's shell and I could see his fingers curling around it painfully tight. If he'd been gripping Donny's shoulder he'd have been hurting him.

I felt for him. The suspense was killing me too.

"Think positive thoughts guys." Don said, opening the next one.

I held my breath slightly.

The same profile sheet opened on the page.

"_There!"_ Usagi said, leaning forward sharply. _"That's him!"_

I leaned forward myself though not as frantically.

The number at the top of the profile read 224324 and under it there was a list with the boy's weight and height along with some other stuff I wasn't interested in right now. I turned my attention to the mugshot. A small, white face stared back at me. He looked a lot like Usagi, It was very easy to see they were related. He had the same shape to his face, the fur tufted on his cheeks the same way and he had a quiet, defiant expression on his face, glaring at whoever had taken the photo much the same way Usagi had glared at Leo when they had their fight on the roof. His eyes were large and brown, not pink like our friend's. His ears were much much shorter too and untied so they stood upright like a rabbit's ears should in my opinion. He looked young. Maybe 8, perhaps 9.

Donny scrolled down the profile page, speed-reading the dated entries on it as only he can. I tried to swallow but my mouth was dry, waiting to hear what Donny found. Usagi was staring at the screen himself, completely transfixed although I knew he couldn't read the western, English writing. He looked like he wasn't daring to breathe.

"Ok here! Latest entry!" Donny announced. He was talking a little faster than normal.

" 'Research done on samples taken from subject 224324...'" He paused, paling slightly before clearing his throat and carrying on. " '..has... has so far proven highly successful in furthering Project Gateway. No further samples are required at this time as the project is moving on course and according to schedule. Deadline should be reached if things continue as they are. Subject is no longer directly required for further development of the Project.'"

"What does that mean?!" Usagi blurted out. He looked terrified.

"Hold on hold on, there's more!" Donny said. " 'At the time of this entry, subject is still in good health and remains active and lively. Possibility of future usefulness exists. Subject has been ordered to be kept alive and in good condition until such a time arises that he is deemed no longer useful.'"

The entire room seemed to breathe out at the same time.

Donny turned to the rest of his, breaking out into a wide, shining smile. "He's alive!"

We couldn't help but break out into a cheer at this, slapping shells and putting hands on shoulders. I felt as if some-one'd removed a rock from my stomach that'd been sitting there for longer than I can remember. I put an arm around Don's neck and proceeded to knuckle his skull.

"Way ta go ninja-geek!" I praised him.

He laughed and tried to push me off roughly. "Hey! I still need that to think and stuff you know!"

"Usagi."

Leo's voice caught my attention and I turned to look at him and the rabbit. We all went quiet.

Usagi was staring at the profile photo.

"Usagi-san." Leo said again.

Usagi tore his gaze away from the image, turning it to Leo instead. I could see it, the extra moisture welling up that he was fighting hard to keep down.

Leo gave him a warm smile. "He's ok Usagi."

Usagi gave him a heartfelt smile back and merely nodded. He didn't seem to trust himself enough to say anything.

Leo put a hand on his shoulder and I saw him squeeze it slightly. "Don't worry. We're gonna get him back."

Again Usagi merely nodded, turning back to the photo on the screen.

"Thank you... Leonardo..." He said, leaving out the honorific.

Leo smiled.

**Xxxxx**

_I managed to write a very lengthy Chapter 18, so here's an update. Halfway through this chapter I started feeling more comfortable with my writing again. I hope it shows._

_Sorry if there are some spelling/grammar errors. I'm still sick and might have missed a few._

_Things have been slow for a while. Now we're moving into action territory!_


	17. Infiltrating the Base

_I don't own TMNT or UY._

_I want to thank the people running FF for granting my request for a 'Usagi' character subcategory :) Thanks guys!_

**Xxxxx**

Finding out Jotaro was still alive was exactly the motivation we needed. Even though we haven't necessarily really achieved anything as of yet, I felt as if most of our fears and worries had been lifted in just finding out the boy was ok. I was so relieved I almost forgot that this is where the real work started. However, one look at Usagi's face was all the reminder I needed. I know that in his dimension it was probably gonna be at least another 200 years before the first camera is invented. Seeing his son's face but being nowhere near him must be tearing him up inside.

I immediately started forming my plans, putting a hand to my chin as I quickly sorted out all this new information in my head as well as everything we know so far. The number one fact was this; we've been dawdling too long. True there had been no other way but now we have our info and we know everything we're going to at this moment. There was no point in sitting around anymore. I wanted us to make our move. Tonight.

I turned to Don once I'd thought all this through. I was aware Raph and Mikey were both staring at me, waiting for my orders. I didn't mind the pressure, it only made me more anxious to get going.

"What kind of set-up are we looking at Don? Would it be hard to get inside?" I asked him.

"I went over the files on the building's security system while waiting for you guys to get back." He said. "It doesn't seem too heavy duty on the outside but once you get inside I've found data on security cams, sensor alarms and laser grids."

"And that means what?" Usagi asked. He didn't sound impatient, just eager to follow the conversation and not get lost with the technological terms he didn't understand.

"It means Bishop's got eyes and ears all over the joint." Raph said.

"Not to mention men." Donny added. "There seems to be quite a few people in his employment who either have a military background or who've worked for various other government agencies including the FBI."

"So there are guards." Usagi said.

I nodded. "Guards with guns." I turned to look at him. "Guns that don't need reloading time."

Usagi pulled a face and nodded in understanding. Secretly I was rather pleased to see his disgust at the mention of the weapon. I don't hide the fact that I hate guns, on some level it felt kinda good to see Usagi shared my sentiment.

"Right." Donny said. "But as I said security's not that rough on the outside. Probably so the building can remain as inconspicuous as possible."

"So how do we get in?" Raph asked.

""Well, it's trying to mask itself as an ordinary building, so there's an air-duct on the roof that we should be able to get into. My guess is Bishop's probably got the more high-tech equipment of his base under-ground where it can't be seen."

"In that case we work our way down and try to get as far as possible without raising the alarm." I said.

"There is five of us." Usagi spoke up. "If we are to remain undetected perhaps it would be better to form two different parties?" He turned to look at me. "Would you agree?"

I nodded, trying to suppress a smile. Usagi was back-seat leading and he knew it. I didn't mind though. "Yeah. We'll enter the building as one group but once we get inside we'll split up. Don, if we find you a computer in there do you think you could zero in on Jotaro's location?"

Donny nodded. "I'd be a pretty poor hacker if I couldn't."

"Good. Usagi and I will get you somewhere you can do your thing. After that we'll make our way to the lower levels. Raph and Mikey, you two start looking as soon as you get inside. Remember we don't wanna be seen so no getting into fights unless you have to."

"Aw you're no fun." Raph grinned at me.

I gave him a stern look. "I mean it Raph. No berserker behaviour you got it?"

Raph rolled his eyes. "I got it already! Sheesh! Ya act like I got no control whatsoever."

"Good. Now as I was saying, you and Mikey make your way down and try to find where Bishop would keep his prisoners. Every-one keep in constant Shell-cell contact with each other. If you find anything, anything at all let the rest of us know immediately. If any one of us finds Jotaro, get him out of the base. Don't wait for the rest of us, just let us know you got him and then get him out of there and back here to the Lair. Once he's out, those of us who're left in the building will have to get out and make our way home as well. If any one besides the person trying to get Jotaro home sees they're being tailed by Bishop's men, try and shake them, even if it means not coming home right away. Remember, this is not about us. This is about getting that boy as far away from that place as we possibly can. Every-one got it?"

They all nodded.

"Alright. Then get ready and get the Battle Shell warmed up." I turned, heading to Master Splinter's room to let him know what's going on.

----

It was warm again tonight and the humidity hit me like a wet towel when I stepped out of the Battle Shell. The sky was clear overhead but in the distance I could see angry clouds making their way towards us. I don't consider myself overly superstitious, but somehow it made me feel uneasy. I looked around the alley we'd backed into, making sure no-one was around before turning and signalling to the others that coast was clear.

They got out the van and made their way up the closest fire-escape to the roofs. I stayed back, keeping a look out before joining them.

We gathered ourselves on the edge of the roof, staring at the ominous shape of Bishop's base in front of us. I looked the building over, taking note of which windows were lit and what kind of people were moving around inside. It all looked so deceivingly normal. Then again that was typically Bishop. The Shredder never hid the power he had behind him, but Bishop was the product of secrecy and deception. It made him all the more dangerous because we never knew exactly what we were in store for when we dealt with him.

As it stands we knew more about the Shredder than we did about Bishop. Perhaps that's why he seemed so menacing to me. I had no idea who he was really. I didn't know what motivated him internally or what on earth could've warped his mind into what it is. It's not that Bishop's insane. Far from it. He's well in his right mind and perfectly capable of being logical and always acted within his own idea of reason. And yet he saw no value in life. Not in our lives or even the lives of his fellow humans. I didn't understand it. I couldn't even begin to try and think that way. Life was precious regardless of whose it was. I believed this with all my heart. As a warrior, inevitably there were times you had to kill to stay alive, but I'd always only made my blows fatal as a last resort. Even then, I always made sure I was aware of what I was destroying, and made sure that I really had no other choice before I did so.

I took a small breath. "Alright, there's our entrance. Remember the plan and keep in contact."

"You got it." I heard Raph say behind me.

I gave a nod, tensed, and jumped the distance, landing on Bishop's roof.

I stood up and looked around but there were no alarms or sirens triggered by my touching the building. I held my breath for a few minutes, listening, but there didn't seem to be any change in the area. I breathed out.

I turned, signalling to the others and they followed. It didn't take us long to find the air-duct and Don opened it up quickly. I could feel the air coming up from the dark blackness inside. I gripped the sides of the hole and made my way down it, the others following close behind.

The tunnel levelled out eventually, and after a short trip it split into 3 different directions.

"Raph and Mike. Take the left. We'll take the furthest right." I whispered.

They nodded. "Good luck bro." Raph said as he tuned and started to make his way down the opposite shaft.

Mikey turned and gave me a shaky smile but said nothing, following after our hot-headed brother.

'Be safe.' I silently thought, turning and going the other way, Don and Usagi hot on my heels.

Every time the darkness was broken by a grate I felt my breath speed up slightly. The risk of being seen was small as long as we kept silent and didn't speak, but getting caught was not the reason behind my anxiety. Every time I could see the floor below us I took in every tiny detail I could; How the people looked, what kind of room it was, what kind of technology I could make out and most importantly, if I could see either Bishop or this guy in the blue-suit. So far we'd found nothing either useful or dangerous. I almost felt like I was being silly, as if we'd broken into a perfectly normal office building. I kept reminding myself that this disguise was exactly what Bishop wanted people to think, and I refused to buy into it.

Besides there were tiny, barely noticeable signs that there was more to this place below the surface, no pun intended. The further we made our way downwards, the tighter security seemed to get. Rooms started showing locks on the outside requiring numerical codes, then key-cards and after that I started spotting palm-recognition panels against the walls. The people moving around the halls and rooms became less at ease and more serious and focused. After a couple of floors we spotted our first armed guard enter into a hallway, march his way right below us and turn a corner, disappearing from sight.

The rooms we passed started out as normal looking offices or meeting rooms, but started becoming more laden with technology. First normal looking computers, then more complicated screens and input panels that looked a lot more expensive. Every time we found ourselves above one of these I turned to Donny, but so far he'd shaken his head every time, letting me know he wanted to get deeper before he took over a computer. I didn't understand his reasoning or how he was judging the hardware we were passing but I knew better than to question his knowledge. If Don said this isn't what he needed I merely believed him and pressed on.

Usagi stayed close to me. He was well aware that despite his skill in battle he knew little of how men from our dimension fought or what kind of weapons they used. He was making sure to stick close so he could follow my lead if we get spotted and need to fight. Also, the knowledge that guns were involved made him extra cautious. I was glad. It was refreshing to have comrades with me who knew how to keep a cool head.

Not that I'd ever speak ill of Raph. He's perfectly capable of handling himself and I knew that his top priority is, and always will be, looking out for whoever was with him, which is why I teamed him with Mikey. Mike was still not really a 100% yet and I knew Raph was aware of this. Putting them together both ensured Mike's protection as well as increased Raph's caution. Seemed to be working so far too. There'd been no sound of an alarm being raised or of any-one being aware of our presence.

We kept going, keeping silent and alert. Eventually the duct stopped in a dead-end, a grate being our only way out.

"Ok, this is it." I whispered. "Stay close guys."

We opened the grate and I peeked out my head, looking to see where we were heading.

The opening led to a hallway with several doors leading from it. At the one end of it was an elevator. It was quiet and deserted for the moment. I dropped down silently.

Donny and Usagi followed.

I nodded towards the elevator. "Looks like that's our way down."

Don nodded, Usagi merely took my word for it.

We moved towards it hurriedly. Donny was checking every door we passed with that analytical expression on his face.

"_Matte."_ Usagi hissed suddenly, stopping in his tracks as he urged us to do the same.

I stopped and turned to him. He was standing in place silently, a frown on his face as he stared unseeingly at the floor, holding out a hand for us to wait.

"What's wrong?" I whispered.

"There is some-one coming." He said urgently, turning towards the elevator. "I can hear a machine approaching."

I couldn't hear anything but I nodded, knowing that like Master Splinter, Usagi's ears were a hundred times more sensitive than mine.

"Quick!"

I went over to the door closest to us and pinned myself to it for a few seconds, trying to hear if any-one was inside.

"It is empty." Usagi informed me as he did the same.

I gripped the handle and we slipped inside, closing the door behind us. I could hear the ping of the elevator as it signalled it had passed the floor below us.

Inside, the room was low-lit apart from the cold blaring light of a series of projected screens against one of the walls. I could just barely make out the hum of machinery filling the room. Large black chairs were positioned in front of the desk-top that ran the length of the wall on which a strange, unfamiliar control system had been set up. Ordinary objects like pens, post-it notes and various other basic office supplies lay scattered around the work-stations. There was a large set of doors against the other wall which I guessed led to a closet of some kind.

Donny took a breath. "Talk about good luck!" He whispered to me with a smile.

I turned to look at him. "This what you've been looking for?"

He nodded. "This is more than just high-tech. Bishop's got a habit of reverse-engineering alien technology and implementing it into his own computer systems. Needless to say I'll be able to do a lot more damage with these than I would the stuff upstairs!"

"Hush my friends!" Usagi interrupted, still standing by the door.

I snapped my attention to him quickly. "What is it?"

He frowned, listening. He then straightened quickly, his hand going to the hilt of his wakizashi.

"Some-one approaches."

"Quick! Vanish!" I hissed.

Donny slipped out of sight under the desk. I threw open the closet and was relieved to find the left side had room enough to hide in. Usagi glared at the door before following and hiding himself beside me. I held my breath.

The door opened and in walked a man wearing a black and blue uniform, reading a display on a palm-top as he closed the door behind him. He walked over to one the black office chairs and sat down, putting away his mini-computer and making himself comfortable. I swore silently.

He inputted a code into the control panel, unlocking the system and granting himself access to the computer. He then started typing.

My gaze flitted to the closed door. There was no way we could get out of the room without being spotted, but there was no knowing how long this guy was going to sit there and work. On top of this Usagi and me's hiding spot was claustrophobic and uncomfortable. I turned my gaze cautiously to where I knew Donny had hidden himself. I couldn't see him which was a good sign, but I knew he was there.

I could feel Usagi's heart against my arm, pumping fast and hard.

The man suddenly got up and I tensed, hoping he was turning to leave. To my horror he started walking towards the other end of the room, right to where Donny was hiding. My breath became shallow as I felt panic rise up in me. Stay still Donny! Whatever you do don't move!

The man stopped right in front of where my little brother was, looking over the top of the long desk. He moved aside some items that had been placed there as he looked for something. I saw him pick up a small, black object, probably a flash drive, before he turned to head back to his work station.

He turned it over in his hand and tugged one end to open it. There was a click and the cap of the thing came off rather faster than he expected, falling from the man's hand and hitting the floor.

The man grumbled to himself, bent down to pick it up, and froze.

I felt a static charge run through me as I watched, my tongue catching in my throat.

I saw the man's shoulders raise as he inhaled as if it was happening in bullet-time. I saw his arms tense, his fingers curl into fists and his legs stiffen as he prepared to jump to his feet.

There was a flash, the sound of steel slicing through the air and then a cut-off guttural noise.

Usagi remained motionless for a few seconds before he got to his feet again. He flicked the blood from his short-sword before replacing it in its sheath, the now motionless man lying in front of him in a steadily growing dark pool.

My lungs burned and I realised I'd been holding my breath. I gave my head a slight shake, trying to get blood flowing into it again as I stepped out of the now open closet.

"_Usagi."_ I breathed in disbelief.

From under the desk Donny cautiously crawled back into sight, his eyes wide and his face pale.

Usagi turned to look at me, his expression serious but not cold. "He would have raised the alarm."

I swallowed dryly, turning to look at the man. "Yeah but..."

Usagi shook his head at me. "Leonardo... He would have raised the alarm."

I stood silent for a moment before I sighed, sinking slightly.

He gave me a sympathetic nod before turning to Donny. "Are you alright Donatello-san?"

Donny nodded but he looked badly shaken.

"Don." I pulled my attentions away from the unpleasant event that had just taken place. "We need to find where Bishop keeps his specimens."

Donny turned to look at me, blinking rapidly. He nodded again. "Oh..y.. yeah right. Right."

He turned and hurried to the now empty chair, sitting down to face the screen. He cracked his knuckles before he started navigating through the info in front of him, trying to get his bearings with how it was set up no doubt.

I watched him quietly, Usagi coming to stand by my side.

"...Do you think me wicked?" My friend asked evenly.

I shook my head. "No."

He said nothing in response.

We went silent, Donny's fast fingers hitting the controls and the low hum of machines the only sound filling the room.

**Xxxxx**

_._


	18. The Setback

_I don't own TMNT or UY._

_I know this was a quick update (again) but I was dying to get this chapter up!_

**Xxxxx**

Usagi and I waited patiently for Don to try and find some useful information in Bishop's network. The samurai was standing close to the door, listening closely for any other men that might be approaching. Donny was typing up a storm, frowning in concentration and completely oblivious to anything else in the room apart from the flickering screen in front of him. I found myself with little to do but wait. But the smell of blood was upsetting me and I felt the need to distract myself somehow.

I reached up and accessed my headset, calling Raphael to hear if he and Mikey'd found anything. I knew they hadn't or they'd have called, but it was something to keep me busy while I waited.

There was a click in my ear as Raph answered. _"'Sup?"_

"It's Leo. How're you two doing?" I asked, keeping my voice low. The last thing I wanted to do was to give away their position.

"_So far so good"_ Raph's voice came back. "_No sign of where they'd keep their prisoners though."_

"We've got Donny working on a machine here trying to find that out for us." I let him know. "Any sign of Bishop?"

"_No."_ Raph said with a clear growl. "_No sign of the other creep either."_

I nodded to myself. "That's a good thing Raph. Just keep going and let me know if anything changes."

"_You got it."_ He replied.

I was glad to hear his voice sounded, if aggressive, at least calm and level-headed. I should give him more credit though. I knew he wouldn't do something overly stupid unless seriously provoked. I tend to act as if he's more irresponsible than he really is. Raph could let his emotions get the better of him at times but I'd trust him with my life. More importantly, I'd trust him with the lives of others I care about. Speaking of which;

"Still ok Mike?" I asked.

"_Yeah."_ Was the only reply I got.

I frowned to myself. Mikey had been awfully quiet the whole day. I was worried he might be hurting more than he was letting on or something. His behaviour was making me all the more nervous.

"Don't worry Mikey. After this it's smooth sailing." I tried to reassure him.

"_I'm holding you to that Leo."_ he said, sounding slightly less tense.

I felt a little better at hearing him ease up and closed the connection, letting them continue their search.

I turned my attention back to the room and noticed Usagi had been watching me quietly. I blinked at him, unsure of what he found so interesting. He merely smiled quietly in response and shook his head, turning to look at Don. I didn't get it, but now was no time to start idly chatting. I turned to Donny as well.

"How's it going?" I asked, coming closer.

Donny was staring at the screen with a slight frown. "I'm trying to figure out where he's got his specimens contained but It doesn't make much sense."

I frowned at this, leaning forward to look over his shoulder, although the flickering data meant little to me. "How so?"

"Well, according to the info I gathered yesterday there was over a hundred different specimens still in captivity, however I'm looking over the containment area's read-outs here and there's no way they could keep so many living things in such a small area and give them each their own cell."

I frowned, not liking the sound of this. "Are you saying they might have put the boy in a cell with another creature?"

Don gave a sombre nod. "They'd have to."

Usagi came closer, frowning deeply. "They would not put Jotaro-kun with something that would harm him would they?" He sounded more angry than afraid.

Donny shook his head. "There'd be no point." He turned to look at the samurai. "It's hard to explain unless you know the guy but Bishop would... consider that a waste."

Usagi grumbled at this but seemed to calm down slightly.

"We can swap theories on how Bishop thinks later," I interrupted, not wanting to get side-tracked. "Right now all we need to know is where the holding cells are and how to get there."

Don nodded and turned back to the screen, typing in some commands. "The base below ground is pretty big but it doesn't seem to all be focused on biological research. There's a lot devoted to the reverse-engineering of alien technology and duplication of alien mechanics as well as fusion of Terran-mechanics with otherworldly elements. The Biological division is rather small in comparison."

As he typed a graphic map of the base filled the screen, but it was so twisted and complicated there was no way for me to try and memorize the layout of the place. Donny ran a finger over the screen. "The Lowest levels are the ones that seem to be focused on the important projects. I can't even give you specifics because most of it's been classified to the higher floors and they've got some major security in the computer system locking me out. However the biological division is a bit above it." He ran his hand upwards, indicating to me where he meant. "Security's pretty tight but it seems more focused on keeping things in than keeping things out. Still I'd be on my guard guys. They're not gonna let you waltz in as you please."

"Can we get there using the elevator?" I asked hopefully.

Donny made a scoffing noise. "With our luck? No way." He moved his hand again. "We're on this floor here at the moment. If you take the elevator a few floors down you'll reach this passage here. Taking the elevator any further will require you to provide some kind of identification like a palm-scan or fingerprint. However it seems if you can get to one of the lower, more private elevators that don't go all the way to the top of the building you should be able to use one of those to get you at least one, maybe two floors down. Of course you'll need to get to them first."

I sighed but nodded. I hadn't expected it to be easy. "Can you guide us the rest of the way?" I asked.

Don nodded and gave me a smile. "No problem. I can hack in and disable some of the security cams and alarm grids but I'm afraid you're on your own as far as guards go."

I nodded again and patted his shoulder. "Whatever you can give us Don." I hesitated before asking. "You gonna manage here by yourself?"

He laughed and gave me a sideways look. "Come on Leo! I can take care of myself."

I smiled and nodded. "Just thought I'd ask."

I turned to Usagi who was staring at the convoluted map of the base on the screen. By the look on his face I could tell he was as lost as I was. He turned to face me and gave a purposeful nod.

I gave a nod back and turned to leave when Don suddenly stood up. "Oh wait!"

I turned back to him, a little confused as he got up off the chair and moved over to the fallen man. I pulled a slight face when Don turned him over and went through a pocket. He then straightened and came back over to me, holding out a keycard.

"Dunno how far it'll get you but you never know." He said, giving me a a sideways smile and a shrug.

I nodded and took it from him.

Usagi frowned, looking from Donny to me. "You are stealing from the dead?"

I was taken aback by this and turned to him. He was staring at me critically but I could tell he wasn't fully convinced that that is what Don had just done.

I shook my head and held out the card so he could see it. "It's a key."

He looked at quietly before nodding, satisfied.

Glad it was settled, I stored the card away and headed for the door, Usagi following.

"Good luck guys." Donny said before sitting down at the computer again, accessing his headset to report to Raph and Mikey.

----

Usagi groaned as another floor number pinged on the elevator's display. I blinked at him.

"You ok?" I asked.

He was looking a little sick, staring at the floor numbers with a slightly pained expression.

He nodded though "When is this contraption going to stop?"

I relaxed, realising he merely had a little motion-sickness. "3 more floors." I reassured him.

He nodded, reaching and drawing his wakizashi but leaving his katana in it's scabbard for now.

I reached back and drew one of my own katanas, ready to face anything that might meet us when the doors opened.

The elevator came to a stop and we hid ourselves on opposite sides of the doors. They opened with a soft ding. No-one entered. I risked looking around the corner and into the hallway.

It was long and dark. No longer sporting the very plain office building motif. The walls were an ugly dark red colour with wires and cables running along its roof. Small, round lights lit the extent of it, each of them placed an equal distance from each other. The floor seemed to be lit by some secondary light as well, like the walkway of a movie theatre or something. The walls seemed to have a slight bend to them, making the hallway look more like a tunnel. There were no doors lining the walls now, only other hallways branching off from this one. The area was empty.

I stepped out of the elevator and Usagi followed looking around quietly, whiskers twitching lightly as he listened for any-one who might be close. Myself I couldn't hear any-one and after a few moments he made a soft noise. "We are clear."

I nodded and started down the hallway cautiously.

"Don, we're out the elevator. Now what?" I whispered into my headset.

"_There should be some passages fanning out from the hallway you're in. The fourth one will take you to what looks like some kind of auditorium or something. You'll enter the top level and should be able to go down a floor by leaving a lower exit in the room,"_

I nodded, signalling Usagi to follow as I counted the side-passages until we got to the fourth. We turned and made our way down it, reaching a rather uninviting looking pair of doors. Once we were sure it was empty inside he pushed them open, entering the large hall.

It turned out to be more circular like an amphitheatre rather than an auditorium. Various seats all pointing to a a circular stage area in its centre. The stage look cold and clinical, the only thing on it at the moment being an empty steel table with a small medical basin next to it. It looked like an operating table. I shuddered and tried not to look at it, quickening my pace as we moved down the stepped walk-way to a door at a lower point in the room.

"What is this?" Usagi asked, staring at the stage as he followed. He'd whispered the question but the acoustics of the room made his voice sound much louder.

I shook my head. "Don't worry about it. Just keep going." I said.

He continued to follow after me but he refused to look away from the stage. I glanced at him briefly and saw the frown deepening on his face as he looked over the steel table with its leather straps and the shallow basin. He slowed his pace and looked around to the rest of the hall, the chairs all facing the stage, the way the walls had been designed to amplify the sound and the obvious need for things done in the centre to be seen and heard. I saw his eyes widen as he put two and two together.

"This is an execution hall!" He said with a choked voice, stopping in his tracks.

I stopped as well, turning to look at him properly.

I felt my insides tighten. "Usagi come on. We don't have time."

He didn't move, looking around the room in slowly growing horror.

I swallowed and took a step closer to him, reaching and gripping his wrist firmly but not too tightly. "Usagi. We need to move."

He turned his gaze away from the room and focused his attention on me. There was something terrible in the expression he gave me, as if I'd just run over his dog. He didn't look angry or blaming; he looked deeply hurt.

"_This_ is what your 'Bishop' does??"

It felt as if some-one had stuck me with a needle. My face hardened as I gave a stiff nod.

"...Why did you not tell me?" He asked, his eyes piercing into me painfully.

I bit my lip. "We didn't want to scare you."

Saying it out loud made me realise what a lame excuse it really was.

Usagi said nothing, staring at me with a mortified expression. He turned to the room again.

I took a shaky breath, tightening my grip on him. "Usagi. We need to keep going."

He remained still for a few moments longer before he nodded and turned to follow me. I relaxed and let go of him, turning to lead the way. I could feel my heart hammering against my plastron. I felt ashamed. Not once had any of us told Usagi just how much danger his son was in. I didn't think any-one would, but even so I had made sure to tell my brothers not to mention to Usagi that Bishop more often than not dissected those he captured. Before we knew Jotaro was ok I had done so because we didn't know the facts yet and I didn't want my friend to have to deal with any more stress, and after we found out he was ok there seemed no reason to do so any more. I had seen no point in scaring him. But now it felt as if I'd openly lied to him. I don't know if I'd made the wrong decision in not telling him, but just seeing him look at me like that... I felt as if I'd done something cruel, and I was ashamed.

"I... I'm sorry." I said, not daring to look at him.

I heard him come to a sudden stop.

I blinked, turning to face him properly, ready to try and explain myself; how I'd only wanted to protect him and not have him go out of his mind with worry. But my blood turned to ice when I saw him reach and draw his katana with his free hand.

I felt the skin on my face prickle as I paled. "Usagi... what....?"

"Some-one is coming!" He raised both his swords.

My brain tried to change gears as I spun to the door we had been heading for, reaching back and drawing my second katana as well.

The door was thrown open and a man in a dark uniform stepped into the hall, rifle at the ready. I swore as I realised our amplified voices had given away our position. Stupid, stupid ninja!

"Get down!" I yelled at Usagi, jumping sideways behind one of the hall's chairs just as rapid fire tore into the walkway's floor where I had been standing mere seconds ago.

I heard running footsteps as the man tried to get us in his sights to fire again. I could make out two other pairs following. Three men all together.

I jumped from my hiding spot when one came too close, striking with my swords. I heard him give a pain-filled cry as I ran by blade across a wrist, disarming him. I dropped down out of sight among the row of chairs again just as a hail of bullets tore into the cushions of the seat's backrests, sending sponge and material into the air.

I heard a man scream and a sharp, vengeful kiai as somewhere Usagi cut down the second man. I heard the last man unleash a stream of fire in a direction that wasn't mine. I took his distraction as an opportunity and launched myself at him. He turned towards me just in time for my blade to catch him across the chest.

"Security breach!" I heard some-one yell. "Security breach in the Demonstration Hall Sector QV12!"

I spun to see the man whose wrist I had cut yelling into a communicator watch.

"Repeat! Security breach in-!" He didn't get any further. Usagi struck with his katana, silencing him.

"Are you ok?!" I asked him hurriedly, looking around to make sure all the men were all down.

Usagi flicked his blades clean and gave a nod. "But they now know we are here."

I nodded, turning and hurrying towards the exit. "But they haven't caught us yet! Come on!"

-----

"_Leo the alarm's been raised!"_ Donny's voice spoke up anxiously in my ear.

"Yeah we kinda noticed!" I replied, skidding to a halt and ducking behind a corner as some-one opened fire. Usagi pinning himself against the opposite wall.

"Any chance of some kind of distraction?!" I asked, flinching when a bullet struck the wall rather uncomfortably close.

I heard Donny pause. _"I haven't got access to the alarms on that level from here, and their communicators are on an independent frequency! I've no way to jam it!"_

"_Why not ask the cavalry ta lend a hand?" _ Raph's voice spoke up.

"Raph where are you?" I asked urgently before I jumped my cover, lunging at the shooter and cutting him down, Usagi following split seconds later to leap over me and finish the second gunman.

"_Close enough ta lure them away from you guys!"_ He replied. _"I can hear the gunfire!"_

"_You're not far from the containment cells now Leo!"_ Donny added. _"Just one more floor and you'll be at the doorstep!"_

"Ok!" I nodded towards Usagi and we continued down the hall, heading for yet another, more private looking elevator at the end of it. "Raph, you and Mikey get their attention and lure them upstairs again if you can!"

"_You got it bro!"_ Raph's voice said.

"_Be careful Leo!"_ I was surprised to hear Mikey's voice speak up. _"I have a bad feeling about this!"_

"Don't worry about us Mikey, just get them away from here!" I replied as the samurai and I slid into the elevator. I pressed the down button frantically.

After we were discovered in the demonstration hall we've travelled down the last few floors much faster, although the going had been much harder. With no further need for silence we'd been running when we could and merely focused on not getting shot. Now there was only one floor remaining; And this damn elevator won't move!

"Come on!" I yelled, slamming a fist against its control panel. I could hear running footsteps some distance away before shots were fired.

"Leonardo the key!" Usagi said quickly, looking past me to the hallway, keeping an eye open for any approaching guards.

I pulled out the keycard and scanned the control panel hurriedly. I found the slit and jammed in the plastic card before hitting the floor button, not knowing whether the man we'd taken the card from had access to it.

Please work!

The button lit up and the elevator pinged, the doors closing as it started to move. I breathed out before tightening my grip on my swords, waiting for our stop.

"Leonardo." Usagi said.

I swallowed and turned to face him, otherwise keeping my stance. I'd noticed that since we'd learned Jotaro was still alive he'd stopped adding an honorific to the end of my name. Now was not the time to dwell on it, but even so, I felt touched.

He turned his gaze away from the doors slightly to look at me. "I do not blame you for keeping such terrible information from me. You were only looking out for me, and I know that."

I blinked, a little stunned he'd bring this up right now, but I gave him a grateful nod in response.

The doors of the elevator opened.

We stepped out into yet another hallway, but this one was more black than red. It was still lit from both he round lights on the ceiling as well as the lights along the walkway, yet it still felt dark and ominous. Apart from that however it looked just the same as the other hallways we'd come from. No-one met us as we hurried down it, alert and ready to duck down from any fire, but it seemed Raph and Mikey were keeping the base's attention for now.

"Where are we going Donny?" I asked into my headset.

"_Left on the second hallway and then right on the third. But Leo... something about this information is kinda weird,"_ Donny started.

I turned down the appropriate hallway. "Don, I'm sure it's important but I really can't focus on any strange computer stuff right now."

"_I know that,_" Don said. _"But... I've found an inconsistency regarding these specimen files that doesn't make sense."_

"Don seriously. Not now." I said, turning again.

Another pair of doors came into view at the end of the hallway.

We walked towards them, coming to a stand still and listening to what could be on the other side. I frowned, putting my ear-spot to the door.

"I cannot hear anything." Usagi said out loud.

I nodded with a noise. "Me either. They must have it sound-proofed."

I looked over the outside of the doors before finding the control panel with the slit in it. I inputted the keycard, hoping it would still work. I was relieved when the light on the door went green and I heard it unlock itself. I gripped the handle to one door, Usagi taking the other before we turned, and threw them open.

The first thing that greeted us was a guard who had come closer when he heard the doors unlock. He'd obviously not expected a threat because when he saw us he reached down to remove his gun from its holster, much too slowly. Usagi was on him with a flash. The guard fell to the floor before he could squeeze off a single round.

I scanned the area, making sure we weren't under any other sort of attack. The room we'd entered was big. Very big. It looked almost like a hanger of some kind but much more sterile and sleek. Against the walls were numerous panes of glass, each one separating a smaller cell from the rest of the room. Each holding unit was lit individually from the inside and had their own control panel and a screen displaying vital signs as well as a lock requiring palm identification. Inside all of them was a creature or being of a different shape and species. They were all very much alive, and yet no sound could be heard from any of them. Each cell must also be sound-proofed to prevent them making a racket.

In the centre of the room stood a man wearing a more scientific looking uniform. He was of a much slender build than the guard Usagi had just killed and didn't strike me as the fighting kind. He was staring at us with a dumbfounded expression.

I shot forward to stop him raising an alarm. He turned to run, heading for some or other central control panel in the middle of the room but I was faster than him. I struck out with my sword, catching him across the back of his knee. He gave a cry and fell, unable to run. He spun around to face me and I pointed my sword at his face meaningfully.

"One wrong move pal and I swear I won't be so nice a second time!" I threatened him.

Usagi ran along the edge of the room, frantically looking into each cell before moving to the next.

"_Leo!"_ Donny's voice spoke in my ear again, but this time it sounded very worked up. _"Leo we got a problem! a BIG Problem!"_

I kept my eyes and sword on the scientist lying at my feet. "What is it Don?"

"Leonardo!" Usagi cried out, turning and running towards me. He sounded panic-stricken.

"_Bishop's got a separate list for some of his specimens!" _Donny said as I turned to face Usagi, alarmed by his tone of voice.

He ran over to me, breathing fast and shallow. "Leonardo! He's not here!!"

"_Leo I think he's moved the creatures he's not using to another location!"_ Donny's voice said.

Usagi was shaking. "Leonardo he's not _HERE_!!"

**Xxxxx**

_._


	19. Getting Out

_I don't own TMNT or UY._

_Quick update once again. Sorry if it bothers some people 8D;_

**Xxxxx**

"Are ya _kidding_ me with this?!" I yelled into my headset.

Don had been talking to Leo but I had to interrupt. I couldn't believe what I'd just heard! We'd come all this way, done all this sitting around, done all this waiting and now when we're _suppose_ to be on the home stretch we get the rug pulled out from under us! What the hell kind of cruel joke is this?!

I gave a furious growl and plunged my sai into one of the guards that had come too close trying to sucker-punch me. He gave a cry and fell but I was hardly paying attention to what I was doing, letting my instincts do my fighting for me.

"Donny if this is some kinda joke it ain't funny!"

"_You think I'd JOKE about this?!" _ Don snapped in ear angrily.

"_Alright every-body calm down!" _Leo barked.

I turned and delivered a hard kick to a guard's gut, winding him before I sliced him with my weapon, cutting a curve on his chest. He gave a yell and fell back, wrapping his arms around the wound. I did a quick look-around to make sure I'd got them all. I felt a soft bump against my shell as Mikey put his back to mine, I could hear the soft whirling of his nun-chucks as they spun. Seeing we were clear I started running down the hallway, Mikey following close behind.

"Leo What the s_hell_ are we suppose ta do now?!" I yelled into my headset.

He didn't answer me and I heard him stammer as he tried to think. Leo was hesitating; not a good sign.

"Raph they're following us!" Mikey called out, half-turned to look behind him.

I grabbed his shoulder and shoved him down a side-passage, following after him just as the shooting started.

"Leo, I don't mean ta pressure ya but we kinda need a plan here!" I yelled angrily.

"_Alright alright!"_ Leo yelled back. There was a slight pause before he spoke again. _"Don. Is there anywhere else in the base they could be keeping him?"_

It was silent for a few moments before Donny spoke up again. "_I... I'm sorry Leo. That's the only place they've got marked as holding specimens in this place."_

"_Ok."_ Leo replied, his voice remaining unnaturally even. _ "is there anyway you can find out where they would've taken the other creatures?"_

"_I can try but things are getting hairy Leo!"_ Donny said.

"_I know I know!" _Leo said back. I heard him give a tight breath. _"Ok... We need to evacuate."_

"We're just gonna leave?!" I growled, ducking behind a corner, dragging Mikey with me.

"_You got a better idea Raph?!"_ Leo snapped. _"Look if Jotaro's not here then what choice do we have?! Every-body get out the building and to the battle-shell! Donny, do as quick a search as you can with what you got but don't dawdle! If you can't find any info in 10 minutes just forget it and get out! Do you understand?"_

"_I got it Leo."_ Don said reluctantly.

"_What?"_ Leo said and at first I didn't know who he was talking to. I realised he was speaking to Usagi who was still with him.

"Raph!" Mikey called out, skidding to a halt.

I stopped and turned to see what was wrong. Mikey'd come to a stop in front of a side-passage, staring down it. He turned to me and pointed. "There's an elevator!"

I nodded, turning and running down it, making sure he was following.

"_Don, give us a few minutes and we might be able to get you some info on the other location, think you can stay put for another 5 minutes?"_ Leo's voice spoke in my ear again.

"_You got it!"_ Donny replied.

"You're not gonna do somethin' nuts are ya bro?!" I interrupted again.

"_No, we got a scientist here who Usagi is.... talking to."_ The break in his sentence told me all I needed to know.

"Tell Bunny-Boy he can do whatever he wants as long as ya don't push your luck over there!" I said.

"_Just focus on getting out Raph! We got it covered."_ Leo said and it was clear from his tone he didn't wanna hear anything else about it.

Mikey and me made a run for the elevator at the end of the hallway, but just as we got close it dinged and the doors of it opened up. Out of it stepped 3 men, each wearing guard uniforms, guns at the ready. I swore, flinging my sai at them one after the other. The first caught one of the guards in the throat and he went down, firing meaninglessly as he fell. The second sai hit one of the others in the chest and he made a strangled noise, falling over. The third man dodged his fallen partners and raised his gun to start firing. Mikey shot forward, passing me and making straight for him. The man started shooting at him, seeing him the bigger threat but Mike was fast and flipped himself out of the line of fire. The guard turned to try and hit him but I sped up, giving a furious yell.

He spun around to me instead, his attention split between the two of us. He should've kept his eyes on Mikey though 'cause my little bro launched himself forward and gave the guy a hard blow with one of his nun-chucks before finishing the job with his second. The wood made a cracking sound like a baseball bat and the man doubled over in pain. I'd reached him myself by this stage and slammed a hard kick into his side, making sure he was down.

I bent down to retrieve my sai when the man I'd hit in the chest spun around as I got too close, raising his gun. I froze, not expecting him to still be up for a fight. Mikey had seen the danger though and pounced him, bringing down the butt of one of his nun-chuck right in the man's face. The guard collapsed, no longer a danger. I leaned forward to get my weapon but started when Mikey gave the man a second, hard strike with his chucks. He delivered a third before he let the guy go roughly, standing up again.

"Geez Mikey relax!" I said, pulling my sai free.

He spun to face the hallway behind us, getting his nun-chucks into a spin again. "They're still coming!"

I grabbed him by the shoulder again and shoved him in the direction of the elevator. "Get in!"

I pushed the fallen guards out of the elevator doors and hit the button for the highest floor I could. Mikey was facing the doorway, still twirling his 'chucks. The doors closed just as our perusers came into sight. I heard bullets hit the other side of the steel doors and the elevator started moving upwards.

I was panting, trying to catch my breath as I turned to Mikey with a deep frown.

"What the heck was _that_ back there?" I asked him.

He gave me something like a pout. "What?"

I gave a low growl. "You know what! Ya didn't hafta hit him like that!"

He pulled a face at me. "Oh sure Raph, like you've never hit harder than needed." He grumbled.

"Yeah but... _you_ don't!" Was all I could manage in response, frustrated.

He stared at me for a few moments before he shook his head and turned to face the elevator doors again. "I just didn't want him to get up again."

I made a noise, feeling the corner of my mouth pull slightly. I reached out and put a hand on his shoulder, giving it a hard squeeze.

"Don't freak out on me now Mikey. Save it for when we get outta here ok?" I said to him.

I saw him bite down on his bottom lip but he nodded, keeping his eyes on the elevator doors. I sighed, letting go of him.

"...He's not here Raphie." He said, his voice sounding much shakier.

I winced slightly but tried to shake it off.

"Then we just gotta make sure to get outta here in one piece so's we can find him." I said, pretending like it was no big deal.

Mikey nodded, but it looked slow and forced.

The elevator dinged and we got ready, hiding ourselves on either side of the doors as they opened.

Some-one outside let fire, piercing several holes in the elevator's back wall. After a few moments it stopped and some-one walked in to inspect the inside.

I let fly with a right-hook to his jaw, instantly putting him out of commission. As he fell I caught him, tearing the gun from his hands before facing the open doorway and firing away randomly. The other guards yelled and all ducked for cover, ripping open the doors that fanned out from the hallway and taking cover behind the corners where the passage forked. I motioned for Mike to follow me as I stampeded down the passage, the gun still in my hands.

Leo doesn't approve, but I gotta admit, I like guns. It's not that I got some kind of kick out of them or anything, I just found them a really interesting piece of machinery. I approached them the same way other people would a car. Getting enjoyment out of taking them apart, learning how the work and the engineering skill that went into making them. As for what they did, ya know, shoot things, I never really saw it as 'pure evil' like Leo did. Any moron could kill something with a gun, that ain't a skill. But being a good shot and knowing how to handle the hardware to its full ability and not hafta kill anything, now _that's_ my idea of skill. But I never used the things if I didn't have to, Master Splinter taught me that much. Have confidence in your own skills and weapons, and only if you ain't got a choice do you pick up a rifle. I knew why he taught us this and I can see his point. But I still had respect for the weapon. I can't help it, it's just the way I am.

"_Don!"_ Leo's sudden voice in my ear gave me a bad start. _"We've got something for you! See if you can find any information on a base somewhere along the Upper New York Bay."_

"_No problem!"_ Donny replied.

"Hey Leo where are you guys?!" I called into my headset, firing off a few warning shots at some guards to let me and Mikey through.

"_We're coming up on ground level! We'll be taking the main entrance outta here. How about you two?"_ He replied.

"We're close to the top floors, I think we're gonna hafta take the roof." I said as Mikey cracked one of his 'chucks over a guard's head.

"_Alright." _He said.

"_Got it Leo!"_ Don's voice interrupted. _"There's a large base near Liberty State Park next to the waterfront!"_

"_Get any info you can Don then get out of there!" _Leo said to him.

"_Ten-four! 2 minutes and I'm gone!" _Donny replied.

I ran past a door and came to a halt, turning to look at the sign on it. It was a small picture of a staircase and the words 'to roof' printed under it along with 'Authorized Personnel Only'.

"Found an exit Mikey!"I called to him, shooting the door handle before kicking it in.

The door opened to a concrete stairway leading upwards. I ushered Mikey inside before turning and firing off a few rounds to discourage the guards from following us before I ran after him. We bounded up the stairs as fast as we could, heading for the roof and our escape. Once or twice our route was blocked by another door through which some guards tried to cut us off but with the gun in my hands as well as Mikey's quick moves we were able to either finish them off or at least break through them and keep going. Near the top the gun emptied on me and I turned, throwing it at our perusers, getting great satisfaction when it hit one of them square between the eyes. We reached the plain looking door at the top of the stairs and I threw my weight against it, causing it to burst open.

Water hit me as I stumbled out the doorway, half-turning to make sure I still had Mike with me. Rain was pelting down on the rooftop and an angry rumble crackled through the clouds overhead.

"Time ta go Mikey!" I called to him, running for the edge of the roof.

Bullets flashed and buried themselves in the concrete but the heavy downpour weakened the men's aim and I made the jump for the next roof over without so much as a close call.

"We're out Leo!" I reported into my headset, not slowing down.

"_On my way out too!" _Donny added.

"_Head for the Battle Shell! We're right behind you!" _Leo answered.

I lowered my next jump, aiming for the fire-escape opposite me instead of the roof. The iron creaked as my weight slammed down on it. I heard the twang of a clothes-line before Mikey landed beside me and we swung our way to street-level like we were climbing on monkey-bars of something. With the rain the clothes-lines were empty and made the trip a lot faster and easier. The minute my feet hit asphalt I ran for the first man-hole and pulled it open. I got Mikey inside before following him, leaving the lid open by a crack before running down the dark-tunnel

Adjusting my mental map of the area, I sprinted what you could roughly call 'across the street' and down a side-street before stopping under an alley. I hurried Mikey up the steel ladder before following him again, this time making sure the man-hole was properly covered. Hopefully they'll think we tried to give them the slip on our home turf and not look for us on street level.

I straightened and quickly took in the area. Once I figured out where we were I motioned for Mikey to follow before I left the alley. Normally we'd never use the sidewalk for a getaway but seeing as it was the middle of the night and with a storm having broken out there was little to no chance of being spotted by any pedestrians. I lead my bro down the street 'till we reached the alley Don had backed the Battle-Shell into. We hurried into the darkness, pulling open the doors to the van and clambering inside before closing them behind us.

-----

There was nothing else to do but wait for the others. Mikey sat himself in one of the back-seats, his knees drawn up against his chest. I stood near the front, rinsing out my bandanna tails as an excuse to twist my hands around something. I hadn't switched on the interior lights, afraid it might give away our position. Neither of us said anything.

A few minutes later one of the doors were pulled open and Donny stumbled inside, out of breath. I held out a hand and helped him in, checking him to make sure he was unhurt. I noticed that he gave me a once over as well, doing the same thing. Once satisfied he let his shoulders drop and turned to stare at me with sad, brown eyes. I pulled a face and gave him an sheepish shrug, not knowing what to say to him. He sighed, moving to take a seat. I gave his shell a well-meaning pat as he did so.

A little later the doors opened again and Usagi got in, followed by Leo. I came closer, not liking that they'd taken longer than Don who'd been the last out the building. Leo shook his head at me, assuring me they were both unhurt.

Usagi took the seat opposite Mikey, his clothes and fur soaked by the torrent outside. The silk hung heavy and his fur stuck to him, making him look thinner than he was. Just like the night we'd plucked him out of Brooklyn. He was staring passively at the floor, water running down the length of his whiskers. He said nothing.

We waited a few minutes for the area to calm down before Donny turned the ignition and started up the van. He pulled out of the alley and started driving us home. I'd taken the passenger seat, my arms crossed tightly across my plastron as I glared at the dashboard in front of me. I clenched my teeth and gave my head a slight shake. I twisted myself to look behind me.

Leo was standing next to Usagi's seat, resting against a control panel to keep his balance. One of his hands was pressed against the controls to stop himself from falling over, the other one was gripping Usagi's shoulder, firmly but gently. Usagi was staring ahead of himself, lost in his own mind. Mikey sat curled in his chair, hugging his knees as he stared out the van window. The only sound being the rain pelting the roof heavily.

**Xxxxx**

_._


	20. Perseverance

_I don't own TMNT or UY._

**Xxxxx**

I felt terrible. I knew it wasn't my fault but I still felt responsible for the botched infiltration mission three days ago. I should have read over the files I'd acquired from Bishop's computer more thoroughly! I should have tried grabbing some info about the base itself and not those idiotic meeting minutes and files on the men in Bishop's employment! I should have made sure I understood Bishop's labelling on his specimens properly! Why didn't I do my research? Why did I dive head-first before I was sure I understood the entire situation? I knew I wasn't solely to blame and that every-one had been anxious to move in and rescue Jotaro and that no-one held me accountable for what happened, but I still felt guilty. The whole mission had been a disaster. The only saving grace was that no-one had been hurt which in itself was a miracle.

I just hoped Leo wasn't blaming himself for all this. Normally it was very easy to tell when Leo was trying to carry the weight of responsibility all by himself, but if he was, it was masked by his concern for Usagi.

Man... if there was one person I felt worse for than Leo it was Usagi. He'd been putting all his hopes on rescuing his son that night, having believed all this time that even if he couldn't see him, he at least knew where Jotaro was. Now all that hope had been ripped to pieces and he was right back to where he started when he'd first jumped into the blue-suited guy's portal. Everything we'd done so far, everything we thought we'd achieved, it all turned out to be for nothing. My God, I don't know how he was even still able to stand! Myself, I felt like getting into bed and just never getting up again until the world decided to sort itself out on its own.

The night we got back Master Splinter had greeted as at the lair entrance. When he saw us enter with no child-rabbit in tow he'd turned to give Leo a confused, almost horror-struck expression. I had no doubt he'd expected the worst in that moment. Leo had merely shaken his head as an answer to the silent question, saying 'We've had a bad day, father'. After that Leo and Usagi had spoken to our Sensei in private, recounting the entire misadventure to him. Raph had paced the main room for a while and I expected him to go the dojo to do some damage, but surprisingly he didn't. Instead he'd sat himself down on the couch next to Mikey.

Mike had sat down the minute we'd gotten home and had stayed there, hugging his legs against his chest. A typical Mikey sign that he was very distressed. Raph had sat down beside him where he proceeded to fume quietly. I hadn't stuck around to watch them. I went to my room, threw down my duffle-bag and collapsed into the chair at my desk. I wasn't sure how long I sat there with my face in my hands before I climbed into my bunk and curled up, trying to force myself to sleep and forget the expression on Usagi's face when he'd gotten into the Battle-Shell.

That was three days ago. Needless to say the lair had not exactly been the cheeriest place to be in for a while. They whole thing had hit us all pretty hard. Usagi had grown very quiet, rarely saying anything when we were together in a group, but then again none of us have been very talkative anyway. I knew he and Leo were talking in private with each other but I wasn't privy to their conversations, nor did I feel I had any right to ask what they spoke about. Master Splinter was also having some private discussions with the samurai without Leo, again I had no idea what they said to each other.

When Leo wasn't with Usagi he was in the dojo, practising his katas and his sword-work. He had that super-focused demeanour about him that said a storm was brewing in the back of his mind and that he was conditioning himself for whatever is to come. Sometimes Usagi would join him and they'd have a friendly sparring match. I found myself going to watch when I heard their swords. Somehow watching them relieve their own stress made me feel a little less tense myself, although not by much.

Raph was a being a bit insufferable. Any time he found the dojo empty he went about beating the living daylights out of his punching-bag. When he wasn't slamming his fists against something he was either brooding darkly to himself or he was making snippet remarks to whoever was in the room with him. Never enough for a fight to break out but just enough to ruin the mood. He was really bad the first day after the mission but he seemed to ease up a little as time went by. Oh sure he was still being a giant jerk whenever he could but I noticed him slowly give the rest of us a break and calm down. I also couldn't help but notice that although he was being snappy and aggressive, not once did he say anything out of place to Usagi. I silently commended him on that.

I was also glad that he and Leo weren't blowing up at each other. The furthest either of them went was to have short, frivolous arguments over small, everyday things. It never got out of control though and they both did their best not to start ripping into each other. I was very relieved. I honestly don't think I could handle another Leo and Raph fight right now.

Mikey was also taking it easy but, there it didn't feel as comforting to me. He was cutting back with his pranks and jokes but then he'd been doing so for a while now. At first I thought perhaps he was just moody because he was sore from his fight, but as the days passed he didn't cheer up again, in fact quite the opposite. He became quieter and quieter up to the point where when he _did_ say something I was always jolted, surprised to see him in the room. It bother me. A _lot._ I didn't know what to do though. I figured his depression stemmed from the failed mission and to be honest, I didn't feel any better about the situation myself. I had no idea how to start cheering him up when I myself felt like my insides were eating each other. Besides... cheering people up is, ironically, what Mikey is best at. Not me. I didn't have a talent for it the way he did. I wanted to tell Leo to perhaps try and talk to him about it but Leo was trying to handle so much I didn't want to burden him with this as well. Raph was no good, he was still too irritated and moody. That only left Master Splinter, and Sensei was devoting his time to Usagi. I was hoping a few days recuperation would make my little brother feel better and he'd soon start annoying us again and we'll actually miss this short period where he didn't say much. Until then, I would make an effort to be extra nice to him. I know, it sounds lame. But what else could I do?

I was in no condition to try and cheer people up anyway. I was downright miserable.

I stared at the computer screen in front of me. The info I'd stolen from Bishop's computer during the botched mission flickered silently along with the info I'd acquired via turtle-bot, like it was taunting me. A map of New York with the second, larger base marked with a red dot cast its glow down on me as I rested my chin on my crossed arms, staring at the info blankly. A column of text lay beside the map window, relaying information on the basics of the base.

It was a lot tighter security wise, a lot more formal looking than a mere disguised office building and had a lot more man-power inside it. From what I had been able to figure out, re-reading Bishop's info over and over again, was that the base we'd infiltrated was in fact a sort of side-branch to this larger one. The one we'd entered focused on smaller, less important projects regarding alien visitation and reverse-engineering of basic weapons and ships and other things I wasn't able to get clear data on. It was also where Bishop handled his human resources, that is having meetings with other government officials in person as well as contacts and scientists in his employment. That explained why we had seen him meeting the blue-suited man there that night. The larger base was where Bishop was conducting his more costly projects that needed more space. This second base was not meant to be open to any-one besides people working directly for Bishop himself. It also happened to house the larger containment area where Bishop kept most of his specimens.

I groaned and hid my face in my arms. I was getting a headache. When was the last time I'd gotten a full night's sleep? I can't even remember any more. I'd been devoting so much time reading these files over and over again, writing down any facts I thought could be useful, trying to envision how the second base could be laid-out comparative to the base we'd infiltrated, what kind of computer programs or mechanics I may be able to whip up to help us when we try taking on this bigger, much more dangerous place. It all swam around me, overwhelming me as fatigue and guilt weighed me down. I felt sick.

I lifted my head, checking the time on my computer. It was just about half-past five in the morning. I sighed, getting stiffly out of my chair. I needed some food and a bit of a break before I tried tackling this again.

I left my lab, walking quietly down the hallway for the kitchen, making sure not to wake the others. I walked into the kitchen and clicked on the light, heading for the kettle before switching it on. I opened the cupboard for a mug. I placed it on the counter as I got the coffee and sugar. I went about making the drink silently, letting my mind blank.

"_Ohayo_" Came the polite greeting behind me.

I turned, blinking blearily to see Usagi walk into the kitchen.

"Oh, Good Morning." I replied, pouring the water into the mug.

Usagi may have been rather quiet lately, but I was relieved to see he wasn't looking necessarily bad. He was taking care of himself, eating, and apparently getting at least enough sleep to prevent from getting sick. He still looked very tired and drained though, and it was obvious all of this was really taking it's toll. But despite it he was carrying on and not caving under all the misfortune we've had. I didn't know how he was managing it, but I decided not to question it and just be grateful for his survival instincts.

He walked to the fridge and opened it, looking around inside before removing the milk. He closed the door before he put the milk on the table. Somewhere in the back of my mind I found it amusing that he'd become so comfortable in our modern kitchen. Well, relatively comfortable at least.

I focused on my coffee, stirring it quietly.

"Did you sleep at all Donatello-san?" I heard him ask.

I turned to look at him.

He was staring at me quietly. I could see soft concern on his face.

I sighed. "Not really. I just... I wanna make sure we know everything before we make our next move this time. I've been going over those files from Bishop, making sure I haven't missed anything."

He said nothing, staring at me thoughtfully.

I put my mug down and went to get the cereal. "I'm sure after our little screw-up Bishop's aware of our involvement and has some sort of nasty surprise waiting for us if we try something again. On top of this I'm trying to figure out the best and fastest way for us to break in so that we can get Jotaro out of there. I wanna be one hundred percent sure of all my information before I even think of taking a step further and-"

"Donatello-san. Stop." He interrupted me.

I turned away from the cupboard to stare at him, confused.

He frowned at me lightly. "Donatello-san, you cannot carry on at this pace. You are starting to look ill."

I blinked at him, taken aback by this. I sunk as I removed the cereal and came to the table to put it down.

"The whole bonehead plan was based on my information and what I was able to find out from Bishop's files. If I hadn't been so impatient to get started and had just taken some extra time to figure things out I might've saved us this whole mess."

I turned to get some bowls. "I just... I don't wanna make the same mistake."

Usagi gave a sigh. "It is not your fault that they moved Jotaro-kun to another location. You cannot blame yourself for this."

I felt my shoulders tense but I turned and came back to the table with the bowls, putting them down in their appropriate places.

"I was the one who'd told you we'd have him out of Bishop's hands and back here once we got in that base. I let you down." I shook my head. "I just can't believe how stupid I was! I should've made sure we were making the right move! Instead here we are with nothing to show for it but a giant fiasco! And after I'd been so arrogant to promise you it would be alright I-" I misjudged how I was putting down one of the bowls and it fell from my hands, hitting the floor and breaking.

"Dammit!"

I knelt down and started picking up the shards, but my hands were shaking a little, making it harder than it should be.

I heard Usagi's chair scrape against the floor as he got up before I saw his _tabi _socks round the table before he came into view in front of me. He crouched down and started helping me pick up the shattered porcelain.

"Donatello-san." He said as he worked. "Your devotion is very commendable, but if you continue on like this... your own desire to succeed will be the very thing that cripples you."

I pulled a face, keeping my eyes on the broken bowl. "Yeah but... I've gotta do _something_."

"Why?" Usagi raised his eyes to look at me. "Why is it so important that you alone do something?"

I looked up to face him. "'why'?! Because you guys were counting on me! I.. I let every-one down!" I sank, staring at the broken pieces in my hands. "I let you down."

Usagi said nothing for a few moments and I didn't have the courage to look him in the eye.

He then gave a soft sigh. "I had thought you had more faith in me than that my friend."

Now I was thoroughly confused. I looked up just so I could frown at him.

He tilted his head at me. "You seem to be under the impression that I have been broken because of this setback." He shook his head lightly. "I did not know you underestimated me so greatly."

I goggled at him, sitting up straighter. "No not at all! I just... I meant that all this... I mean it was terrible! To have gotten so far and have it all smashed to bits like that! I didn't mean... I...."

I didn't know how to end my sentence.

Usagi smiled at me. A real smile, not a forced mask put on to comfort me. I could see it in his face.

"And yet we are all still here and unwounded, and we still have the knowledge that Jotaro-kun is alive."

I made a noise at this. "I guess so but.. ..it's not enough."

"That is why we prepare to do more." Usagi said.

"But that's what I've been doing!" I said desperately, looking up again.

"Hmmm." Usagi eyed me. "I am not so sure."

He got up, moving to throw the glass away. "You ponder over facts and logic, trying to formulate an answer from broken pieces of knowledge, hoping a simple solution will produce itself if you look for it hard enough. While doing so you exhaust yourself, tiring your mind and your spirit with both guilt and exhaustion."

He turned back to me. "Now is the time to gather ourselves up again before we strike. The time for self pity is past."

I stared at him from where I sat on the floor, the remaining glass still lying in my hands. I realised I was gaping at him and changed my expression.

"...But... I can't just sit around doing _nothing_."

He shook his head, coming back over and holding out his hand to help me up. "It is not doing 'nothing';"

I freed one of my hands, taking his and getting to my feet.

"It is persevering." He said, giving me a kind smile. "Sometimes, that is all we _can_ do."

I pulled a slight face, not really sure how to handle this situation. Wasn't I suppose to be the one comforting him?

I looked him over again. He looked tired but then again so did I. I mean what was I expecting him to look like? Had I thought finding Jotaro was not where we thought he was would cause him to just give up and go home? Well no, of course not. But I admit, I had expected him to be thrown into despair by all this. Heck I know I was, just about. I mean I could see the setback had hurt him. How couldn't it? I just hadn't considered that he'd have the courage to keep going as strongly as he was. I guess I _had_ been underestimating him. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't expecting him to be super-powered and able to shrug off all the hard knocks and blows we received, but I'd forgotten he's no stranger to bad situations and dire circumstances. Heck he's probably seen more of them than I have! Besides he was right. We were all still ok and unhurt, and we knew that even if he wasn't where we _thought_ he was, Jotaro was still alive.

I gave a long exhale. "Usagi, I gotta tell ya, I dunno how you're not going out of your mind."

The smile he had given me stayed as he turned back to the table.

"I have some good friends who are watching out for me." He said, sitting down. "They do more than they know..."

**Xxxxx**

_*Mournful sigh* I struggled very hard with chapter 22 which I've just written. I haven't read over it yet but I don't know if it's any good at all. Lately my self confidence has been rock bottom in everything I do._

_This chapter was difficult for more than one reason. On the one hand it was very hard to write the first half just because of the content. It was very emotionally draining (I guess that's a good thing?) On the other hand it was difficult because I didn't want Usagi to come across as a total Stu. Hopefully I've not crossed that line. The truth is I don't think this is very far fetched behaviour of him, but I don't think I have Stan Sakai's skill at pulling it off._


	21. Regrouping

_I don't own TMNT or UY._

**Xxxxx**

I felt almost guilty for it, but Usagi's talk really made me feel better. I felt that was a little unfair, seeing as I should've been the one giving him support. But regardless, I felt a lot lighter afterwards. Just knowing that Usagi, the person who had arguably been hurt the most by this situation felt no resentment towards me, or any of us for that matter, took a lot of weight off my shoulders. If he could keep going then what kind of wimp am I to throw in the towel? Hearing his refusal to let this get the better of him made me almost ashamed of feeling as bad as I did.

I hadn't known what to say to him after our initial talk so I'd just remained silent, finishing my coffee. The caffeine wasn't doing it for me today though, and feeling my stress slowly ease as I watched the absurd image of the samurai eating a bowl of Cheerios, I started getting tired. Eventually I had no choice but to give in and admit I was exhausted past the point of being functional. I sighed, leaving my mug still half full as I bid him good morning before I left, heading for my room.

I walked in, feeling dizzy with fatigue as I carefully stepped past the sleeping figure of Leo. I got to my bunk and climbed up on top of the raised mattress. I removed my mask and gear before I pulled the blankets over me and settled down, taking more than a little pride from the fact that Leo's only reaction to my entering was to roll over in his sleep. I knew I'd get past him eventually.

When I woke up again it was well into the day already, probably 11 or so. I sat up, still feeling tired but knowing if I slept any longer I'd just throw myself out of my circadian rhythm and I'd suffer for it that night when I go to bed. I got up and made myself presentable before I left my room. I noticed Leo had carefully rolled up the bedding he was using and stored it away out of sight. I rolled my eyes a little as I felt myself smile. Geez Leo it's just me. I'm not gonna scold you if you don't make your bed in the morning. On the other hand it was a comfort on some level. Leo was still thinking about the little things as he always does. He wasn't crushed by this situation either. Heck I was starting to think maybe I was the only one feeling so deeply bummed out by the whole thing

I exited my door and walked down the hall to the main room. I could hear the TV talking to itself and when I entered I saw its numerous screens flickering as an overly cheerful lady with a blonde dye-job informed whoever was busy watching that if they acted now they could also get the refill at no extra charge.

I was a little confused as I didn't really consider it the right time to be lounging in front of the TV considering our present situation. I came over, expecting Mikey to be the one who'd skipped on training to take root on the couch and sure enough, he was there, but he wasn't alone. Both Raph and Leo were near, standing and apparently bickering about something. I noticed Usagi sitting next to Mikey, watching the argument with mild confusion. I'd almost say he looked slightly amused. Mikey was watching the argument too, looking back and forth from Leo to Raph, he also looked like he was getting some kind of entertainment out of this.

I breathed a little easier, coming over to hear what the fuss was about.

"What's going on?" I asked and almost instantly regretted it when all four pairs of eyes turned to stare at me.

"Well would ya look at who's back from the dead!" Raph gave me a toothy grin. "Wazza-matter Donny? Your alarm clock stop workin' or somethin'?"

I pulled a face at him in what I hoped looked like a feisty manner but somehow, I think my burning cheeks were ruining the effect a little.

"For your information Raph I only went to bed around 6 this morning. Besides I think I can get away with oversleeping a single morning with all the late-nights I've been pulling."

Raph pulled an exasperated face as he rolled his eyes. "Sheesh Don' take it so personally!"

Leo gave me a smile although I wasn't really sure why.

"What's every-one doing anyway?" I asked, looking at Mikey and Usagi.

Mikey gave a groan and pulled a slight face. "Master Splinter says we need to take a day off and chill or we're gonna start killing each other, so Leo and Raph wanted to watch a movie and got into the usual Cowboys versus Samurai argument."

"Oh no," I turned to Leo and Raph, cocking a brow critically. "Eastwood Versus Kurosawa _again?_"

"Don't gimme that look Don!" Raph said, gritting is teeth at me. "Ain't my fault I prefer watchin' my movies in colour!"

"Oh sure, and this has nothing to do with the fact that you're a total sucker for movies with bar-fights in them!" Leo said, turning back to Raph and picking up the argument right from where he'd left it.

"It ain't rocket science Leo! Ya can't beat good ol' American grit! 'Sides it's Eastwood! He's done more than one or two pictures ya know! He knows how ta do his stuff!"

Leo made an aggravated noise. "Yeah, but taking all of Kurosawa's films and putting a ten-gallon hat on them!"

"You're just all defensive 'cause Kurosawa's got his actors prancin' around in silk-robes carryin' swords!" He paused, turning to the couch. "No offence meant."

Usagi merely smiled and gave a shrug. "I am afraid I have no idea what either of you are talking about. I am merely enjoying the spectacle."

Mikey made a long, drawn out noise irritably. "Can we just pick something already?! If Master Splinter gave us the day off I don't wanna waste it arguing over what to do!"

"Fine! Donny!" Raph rounded on me.

I jumped slightly. "Huh?"

"Since you're always on the fence 'bout this you pick!" Raph said, crossing his arms.

I blinked, feeling put on the spot. I cleared my throat, going into mediator mode. "W..well. Having seen both Directors' works numerous times, as well as having heard both points and counter points. Numerous times." I added, shooting them both a look. "And taking into consideration our guest and our present circumstances and which setting will provide us the most escapism-"

"Get to the point Brainiac!" Raph growled at me.

"-Leads me to the conclusion." I said, giving him a slight glare. "That Kurosawa's probably the better choice at the moment."

Leo turned to give Raph a victorious smile. Raph threw his hands in the air.

"Alright fine! We'll watch the stupid guys in their pyjamas swinin' their butter-knives around! Way ta stab me in the back bro." He sat himself down between Mikey and Usagi roughly, causing both of them to rock off balance slightly for a moment.

I frowned and shrugged at him. "What? You said Pick!"

"Subtitles or no?" Leo asked, walking to the DVD player.

"Subtitles are for the weak!" Raph answered

"_eto..._" Usagi 'uhmed'. "I am... very confused as to what we are doing."

I leaned forward to look at him past Raph.

"Theatre in a box dude." Mikey said crossing his legs.

This didn't seem to clear up anything and I saw Usagi turn to me for help.

I laughed lightly. "Just watch."

"And tell us if you get bored." Leo said, coming back and sitting in the arm-chair.

Usagi looked unsure about this whole thing but he obliged and waited silently for whatever was gonna happen.

I rested my shell against the couch behind me, wondering if I really should be sitting here watching a Samurai epic when there's still so much that we needed to do. It felt like we were being cold, watching a movie to entertain ourselves when a little boy was still in trouble. I shifted, suddenly feeling uncomfortable with the whole situation. I could be going over those files again, or try to draw up a basic schematic of the base we'd infiltrated based on my memory of what the layout of the other building had looked like, or I could be putting together some gear to be ready in a moment's notice should we need to move fast for some reason. I still needed to restock my duffle-bag too. I should probably check the first-aid kit I had stowed in there and make sure it still had everything in it. Instead here I was watching TV like some kid on a Sunday evening when he should be doing homework or something. The whole situation suddenly felt wrong somehow.

Mikey gave me a light kick on the shoulder, knocking me from my thoughts. I looked up to frown at him.

He blinked down at me with a light frown of his own. "Sit still, you're making me twitchy with your.. ..twitching."

I pulled a face at him. "Oh well excuse me."

I crossed my arms and turned to face the screens again.

Another kick came from Mike, but it was softer this time. I turned to him again, ready to tell him to cut it out till I saw he'd dropped the frown.

"Dude, Master Splinter said chill." He shrugged, turning to face the screens himself. "So chill."

I blinked at him for a few moments before I faced the front again, the opening credits' Kanji splashing across the black screen in white.

Mikey was right. Or more accurately Master Splinter was right. Since we got back from the base we'd been going full throttle. Not stopping or slowing for anything, our entire focus being only on the success of our next mission when we break into Bishop's base again. We'd been winding ourselves tighter than violin strings. We needed to take a step back. To regroup. If we don't we'd only be hurting ourselves and in doing so, lessen Jotaro's chances of rescue. Besides, it was only one movie. It wasn't gonna be the deciding factor if we win or lose. And no, I wasn't saying that to tempt fate.

All the same I tapped the wood of my bo-staff just in case.

The opening credits finished and the first scene unfurled, depicting the rural Japanese village in the mountains with its rice-fields and farms as I'd seen it do many times.

"Hmm." I heard a voice from the couch. "Interesting."

**Xxxxx**

_I want to thank every-one for their support they showed me after my last chapter. I'm really deeply touched and only wish I could do more to thank you xxx_

_One reviewer asked me a question regarding the end of Chapter 19 but I cannot reply to them directly as they are not registered with FF. In short there is no real,fixed event for why Leo and Usagi took a few minutes to get back to the Battle Shell other than they had to try and shake their pursuers :)_


	22. The Fight

_I Don't own TMNT or UY._

_Long chapter is loooooong._

**Xxxxx**

Usagi didn't get bored.

I hadn't been that sure how good an idea it was to let a samurai watch a movie about samurais. It kinda felt like we were making Shakespeare watch a high-school production of one of his own plays. I'd expected the rabbit to laugh his ass off at some of the overly dramatic scenes that, granted, made for good cinema but wouldn't exactly fly in a real battle situation. But he let it be what it is and didn't criticize it. He actually seemed to enjoy watching a parody of his own life on the screen. I didn't think he noticed but I was sorta keeping an eye on him as we watched just outta curiosity to see his reactions. Yeah, I know that's kinda creepy of me. Anyway he didn't seem insulted by what he was watching. The only negative emotion I ever saw on his face was kind of sad, lonely expression half-way through the movie. I didn't understand it too well and I couldn't place what it was that was affecting him. I wasn't gonna ask though. What the hell business was it of mine?

I prefer my westerns but to be honest, I kinda harp on the Samurai epics more than I really need to. Part of it is to get Leo's goat 'cause I know he likes 'em so much, but it's also 'cause I was a little embarrassed to admit I kinda like the whole lone warrior tone some of them had.

Besides, it was a relief to get a day's vacation from reality either way. I guess Master Splinter had noticed we were wound pretty tight. It ain't often we get ordered to goof off and _not_ train am I right? I'm kinda hoping this becomes a habit of his.

It'd helped. I know I was feeling less crazy and ready to kick butt again once we need to. I kinda can't wait for when that moment comes. The false climax of the last mission had really gotten under my shell. It took all I had not to strangle the nearest person the day after that mess. Things were feeling better now though and I knew it wasn't gonna be long before we pull the big job and break into this other base.

We spent the rest of that day doing whatever the heck we each felt like doing. Mikey had set up camp on the couch with a stack of comics and got lost in his own world while Leo and Donny decided they were gonna try and teach Usagi how to play cards. The rabbit was reluctant at first, not liking the idea of gambling at all, but eventually they twisted his arm into it as long as real money wasn't involved. Probably just as well too 'cause the rabbit cleaned up. I'd never seen any-one able to pull a bluff with such a straight face before.

After that we kinda broke apart to each do our own thing. Usagi had pulled his swords from their sheaths and set about giving the blades some care which of course attracted Leo like honey does flies. Now if you're not familiar with the weapon I'll tell you right now, the blade of a sword is worse than a baby. You gotta take a ridiculous amount of care with it 'cause if you don't it gets damaged. Leaving it in its scabbard for too long damages it, leaving it _out_ too long damages it, touching the blade with your hands damages it, not cleaning it properly damages it. Sheesh! I'll stick to something less needy thank you.

I challenged Don to a video game session and we spent our time doing that. I asked Mikey if he wanted to play winner but he said no.

I didn't want the others to know this but I was kinda freaking out a little about him. I hadn't forgotten the very uncharacteristic move he'd pulled in the base when we were escaping. I'd never seen Mikey purposefully give some-one an overly violent blow. It bugged the hell outta me and I was going a little nuts over it. It probably doesn't sound like that big a deal considering we kicked the crap out of bad guys all the time, but there's a difference to kicking some serious shell and kicking a wounded dog when its already down. That's what separates being a warrior from being a brute.

Now normally I'd just chalk it up to Mikey being thrown outta whack at having heard Jotaro was not in the building and that we'd made one hell of a mistake, but I'm smart enough to know there was more to it than that. Ever since that asshole gave him a beating in the park he'd been acting screwy, and not normal Mikey screwy but disturbing, messed up screwy. I didn't like it. I'd left him alone, thinking maybe if he had a few days he'd bounce back like he always does but it didn't seem to be working this time. I was reaching the end of my patience. If he doesn't start perking up soon I'm gonna hafta try and talk to him.

Talking ain't exactly my strong point. I usually leave the pep talks and words of wisdom for Master Splinter and Leo. Much as I hate to admit it Leo's pretty damn good at making you feel better. I feel dumb letting him know that though for some reason. It's not 'cause I don't wanna give him the satisfaction or anything like that, I just felt really awkward letting on that sometimes I kinda do need big brother to tell me things aren't as bad as they look.

But even if talking ain't what I'm best at I was just gonna have to bite the bullet and do it. Leo's busy keeping Usagi from going mental and Donny's busy doing his computer geek stuff. I mean I could tell Master Splinter to talk to him 'cause I know Sensei's noticed it too but I kinda felt that if Sensei thought it was necessary to have a talk with Mikey he'd have done so already. Splinter usually tried to make us sort out our issues amongst ourselves before he stepped in to do the father son talk thing. I kinda knew it was getting close to that time when he'd sit Mikey down and try to find out what was wrong but... ugh, this is gonna sound mushy. I wanted to try talking to him first.

Mikey's my little bro, sure, but he's also my best bud. Oh yeah there's Casey and don't get me wrong, Casey, despite being a giant dork, is the best friend you could hope for. But honestly? I've been best buds with Mikey a heck of a lot longer. I dunno how to describe it! It's just different. 'Sides whoever said you can't have two best friends anyway. The point is I wanted to try and hear if he'd tell me what's bugging him before Master Splinter has to get him to open up. A heart to heart with Splinter can sometimes be kinda painful if you're struggling with a really deep problem you don't wanna talk about. Me and Mike tend to talk about stuff differently. Heck other people probably need an interpreter to figure out what the hell we were really saying under all the insults and jokes we threw at each other. If I could get him to at least let on what's bugging him I'd feel a little better.

But we haven't gotten there yet. I was just mentally preparing myself for when we get to that point.

Donny punched the air with a 'Yes!' when he managed to cream me in our gaming match. I made an aggravated noise. I'd been too distracted to give the game proper attention.

"Alright alright Don! No need ta be so fulla yourself for it!" I said, elbowing him slightly.

"You're just a sore loser." He retorted, nudging me back harder.

I stumbled and half-fell on Mikey who was still absorbed in his funny books.

"Hey! Watch it!" He grumbled at us with a pout.

I gave him a broad grin in what I knew was a menacing way. "Hey, If you're gonna sit there you're gonna hafta deal with the risk!"

He pulled a face at me and shoved at me lightly with a foot, trying to hold his precious comic away from any danger. "Knock it off Raph! You don't own the couch you know!"

"Leave him alone Raph." Donny said, elbowing me again. "He's not bugging any-one."

I turned back to Donny, deciding to give Mikey a break for now.

"Ya up for a rematch?" I asked Don, waving the controller meaningfully.

"I think I'm done." He said, lifting a shoulder to crack his collar-bone. "I'm kinda tired to be honest."

I shrugged. "Fine. How 'bout you Mikey? Last chance."

I turned back to him, poking him with the controller.

He lifted the comic to look at me again. He was getting annoyed, I could tell. "You asked me already and I said no."

"Alright alright! Geez. Shoot me for offering." I grumbled, getting up to put the system away.

"Gaming tournament all done?" Leo asked as he came over, Usagi in tow.

I turned to him. "Unless you're challenging."

He shook his head. "Nah. Not really in the mood."

I shrugged. "Your loss."

"You guys need the TV?" Donny asked, putting the machine away before coming closer again.

Leo shook his head, sitting down on the couch next to Mike. "No, we were just curious as to what you guys were doing."

"You're lookin' at it." I said, moving to sit in the armchair.

Usagi sat down next to Leo, Donny came closer and sat himself on the armchair's arm-rest.

"Any-body hungry yet?" He asked.

I pulled a face. "Not really."

Leo turned to Usagi who shook his head before he turned back to us. "Not yet."

"So we just gonna sit here twiddling our thumbs?" I asked, leaning back in the chair.

"Well," Donny said thoughtfully. "I could tell you guys about some of the weirder things I've found in Bishop's files."

I made a long, drawn out noise in aggravation. "You and your files! Honestly Donny you're obsessed."

He gave me a dirty look. "It was just a suggestion. Besides I wasn't referring to the files necessary to our mission, I meant some of the other things I've found which are kinda strange."

"What do you mean strange?" Leo asked, cocking a brow.

"Well, this Guy in the blue suit for one." Donny said. "Who, by the way, has a name as it turns out."

Mikey looked up from his comic, turning to stare at Don. "Oh yeah?"

Donny nodded. "I've found some minutes taken at a meeting at which he was present. Bishop doesn't seem to have a profile on him like he does with the others in his employment."

"So what's the whack-job called?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"In the minutes Bishop refers to him constantly as Mr. Tibalt, I looked a little deeper in what I had and his full name is Chad Tibalt." Donny said.

I made a choking noise, trying not to laugh. "'_Chad_?! That ain't a name that's a country!"

This time it was Donny who snerked before he cracked up. I felt proud. It's not often I can get Don to laugh.

I heard the rabbit give a light laugh as well and turned to him. I gotta tell ya, lately every time I see that guy laughing it was like an instant battery recharge. If he was still able to crack a smile then it means we weren't licked just yet.

"What's so funny?" I asked him with a sideways look.

He shook his head slightly. "It just does me good to hear that you are still undaunted by this _bakemono_ despite everything he have endured."

I gave a shrug. "No point bein' scared of a guy we haven't met."

Usagi smiled and gave a nod. "It is best not to fear some-one at all. Just be cautious."

"Don' get me wrong I ain't sellin' the creep short." I said, becoming a little more serious. "I mean he got past _you _and you ain't exactly a push over."

I saw Leo smile but tried to ignore him.

Usagi laughed again and nodded his head at me. "_Arigatou_. However I must admit my attentions were divided when it attacked us." His smile fell slightly and I saw his expression become slightly hurt. "I had tried to put some distance between myself and Jotaru-kun, thinking that a fight would break out between this monster and I." He sighed. "In a way it sealed our fate, and gave him a better opportunity to steal him from my side."

The room suddenly became a lot quieter. I silently kicked myself for bringing up the topic.

Usagi shook his head again, but a little harder and more to himself before straightening and giving a small smile again. "But that is in the past. I had done what I had thought was the best course of action and that monster had merely manipulated me, knowing I did not expect his target to be Jotaro-kun."

"Why do you do that?" Mikey suddenly spoke up.

Usagi blinked and turned to look at him, slightly jarred by the sudden change of topic. "Eh?"

Mikey put the comic down, sitting up to stare at Usagi with large eyes. "Whenever you say the kid's name you always add an honorific at the end. He's _your_ kid right? That's not normal is it?"

I winced inwardly. Dammit Mikey! Why, even when you're in a funk, do you still manage to be such a dink?

Not that I knew the answer, but I was sure it was none of our business. I saw Leo open his mouth to tell Mikey to shut up but before he could say anything Usagi broke into a smile again and answered.

"He is my son, this is true, but I was not the one who raised him." He shook his head at Mikey with a kind expression. "It is not my place to show such familiarity towards him. That is an honour Kenichi-san, his true father, holds. I do not want to wedge myself between them."

Mikey gave a pout. "It's just a name. It's not that a big a deal is it?"

"_Mikey_!" Leo hissed, giving him a dark look.

Mikey pulled a face and crossed his arms but went silent, looking away irritably.

"No, it is alright Leonardo." Usagi said, turning to give Leo a reassuring smile. "In all honesty I am surprised none of you have questioned the matter more than you have." His smile perked a little as he gave a more light-hearted grin. "Not that I do not feel touched at your thoughtfulness."

Leo made a noise. "It's none of our business. Besides the whole thing seemed, well, kinda complicated."

Usagi gave a nod and pulled an almost tired looking expression. "It is... a rather complex situation." He gave a slight breath. "But to put it simply, Jotaro-kun's adoptive father, Kenichi-san, is rather wary of me being in the boy's life." a strange sadness spread on his face. "I believe he sees me as somewhat of a threat."

"What, like you're gonna kidnap the kid and run away or somethin'?" I asked. I admit I was as curious as anybody about the whole thing, and even if he didn't wanna tell us the whole story I wanted to know a little more about all this, so whatever Usagi felt comfortable saying I wanted to hear.

"I think... he is more concerned that I would in some way steal the child's affections from him." He gave a light shrug. "I have never questioned him about it. I merely honour his wishes and try to show my respect."

"Ain't the kid got a say in it?" I asked, purposefully not looking at Leo who I know was glaring at me.

Usagi sunk a little at this. "...He does not know." He said hesitantly. I realised we were stepping into sensitive territory. "He does not know anything. All he knows me as is a friend of his family. Nothing more."

There was a short pause in which I frowned lightly to myself. Damn Usagi. You really got a raw deal huh?

"What about the mom?" Mikey said, once again with stunning disregard for anything personal.

"Seriously Mikey. Drop it." Leo said, giving him a very dark look.

This time he shifted uncomfortably, looking kinda ashamed as he went quiet, realizing he'd pushed his luck too far.

I was torn. On the one hand I wanted to smack Mike upside the head for bringing up things which were private and we had no right asking about, but on the other hand I was relieved to see him asking questions and, well, being a dork about it.

"Sorry." he mumbled sheepishly.

"Let's just forget it." Leo said, turning to Usagi with an embarrassed expression.

Usagi smiled reassuringly at him but said nothing. I could detect a hint of gratitude in his face. He didn't wanna go any deeper into it, I could tell.

"Uhm..." Donny said carefully. He hadn't even said anything yet and I could already tell he was trying to change the subject. "..How about we get dinner started?"

"Whose turn is it ta cook?" I asked.

"I'll do it." Leo said, getting up.

"No no! That's ok I got it!" Donny said, getting up quickly. It took all my self control not to crack up.

Leo frowned at him as Don started to head for the kitchen. "I'm not _that_ bad!"

"Trust me Leo. They could use you in the military's biological weapons division." Donny said, shooting him a grin as he started to walk to the kitchen.

"Now you're just being silly." Leo grumbled, moving after him.

Usagi got up off the couch, shaking his head and rolling his eyes slightly as he followed them.

"Leo, have you even _tried_ eating some of the stuff you cook?" Donny was saying as he left the room.

"Yes as a matter of fact!" Leo said, following after him.

Usagi moved to go after them but he paused slightly beside Mikey, leaning down towards him a little.

"Her name is Mariko." He said.

He then straightened and left the room, following my two other bros into the kitchen

---

I was gonna get up and go after them when I realised I was alone in the main room with Mikey. Mike was staying on the couch, his arms crossed over his chest as he sat and sulked to himself. I watched him quietly. He was staring unseeingly at his knees with a sullen expression, frowning to himself as he seemed to struggle with something. I pulled a face myself. This couldn't go on. I couldn't just sit here and watch whatever was wrong eat him alive like this. It was getting ridiculous.

I took a deep, mental breath. Here goes nothing.

"Don' let Leo get ya down Mikey." I said, keeping my tone of voice light. If he knew I was trying to crack his shield he'd completely lock me out and I'd never find out what's wrong.

He looked up, apparently surprised to see I was still in the room. He recovered and settled back into his troubled expression. "I didn't mean to bug him, I just wanted to know who she was."

I gave a small shrug. "Makes two of us, but ya can't really just ask like that. This is some deep stuff. We're talkin' Soap Opera material here."

Mikey make a soft noise, giving me a look. "Leo'll get annoyed if he hears you saying stuff like that."

I gave him a wide grin. "Yeah, but it's kinda true ain't it?"

I saw one of the corners of his mouth perk slightly. "Kinda, yeah."

I stretched myself a little, shifting my position in the chair. "Not his fault though am I right? Yeesh. Talk about bad luck ehn? Guy's got a bit of a rotten deal as far as the kid's concerned if ya ask me."

Mikey lowered his gaze and shifted a little. "I don't think we should be talking behind his back like that."

I frowned but not really at him. "Why not? I ain't sayin' nothin' bad about him. 'Sides," I rolled the dice. "We haven't really talked much at all lately."

I watched him closely for his reaction. I saw him tense up, taking note of the fact that he didn't look up to meet my eye.

"Lot's of stuff going on, yeah." He said unconvincingly.

I thought for a moment, keeping my gaze on him before I risked giving another small push. "Never stopped us before though." I leaned forward in my seat, resting my elbows and my knees. "Don' get me wrong, I'm enjoyin' the lack of moronic behaviour... but ya don' hafta overdo the whole 'bein' good' schtick you've picked up lately."

Mikey made a small noise, crossing his arms again, still not looking at me. "There's... just a lot of stuff going on. That's all."

I grumbled inwardly as I watched him. He was stonewalling me. But I could see I had found my mark and I was now picking at the wound.

"...That ain't true is it?" I said, letting my tone turn more serious.

Mikey winced slightly but otherwise didn't move.

I paused before I sighed, relaxing my posture a little. "You've been actin' squirrelly since ya came home from your little rumble in the park. It's... well..." I flitted my gaze to the side for a moment, unsure of what to say. Aw man, I'm no good at this stuff. "..It's kinda weirdin' me out."

Mikey uncrossed his arms and got up. "I don't wanna talk about it."

I snapped my eyes back to him, getting up too. Dammit! I can't lose him now!

"Hey, I don't mean it's buggin' me or nothin', it's just... it ain't right." I said, hoping desperately he'd understand what I was _trying_ to say and not focus on what I was stammering out like an idiot.

He made a noise. I could see he wanted to walk away from the whole thing but for some reason, he didn't seem able to make himself do so. I kinda got the feeling he wanted to talk, but he was stopping himself.

I swallowed, trying again. "Look. It ain't just me gettin' creeped out ok? I don't..." I made an aggravated noise, rubbing the back of my neck with a hand before I turned to look at him again. "I don' like seein' ya mope around like this alright? You're drivin' me nuts and I just, I just wanna know what happened ok? I mean for cryin' out loud Mikey this ain't like ya! Somethin' happened to ya that night and I wanna know what cuz this is getting crazy!"

He turned his head sharply to look at me with a frown. "Hey, it's not my fault that jerk beat the crud outta me ok?! I'm sorry if _Raphael_ is feeling jumpy but you don't need to know every little detail of my life!"

I held up my hands quickly, trying to disarm the conversation. "That ain't what I'm getting at Mikey. I just.... It's twistin' my guts not knowin' what happened ok? And obviously it's doin' the same thing ta you. I'm just sayin' I think it'd be better if ya tell me what went down."

He gave one of his annoyed groans and turned to walk away. "I don't wanna talk about this Raph. It's none of your business."

Before I could stop myself I went after him. I didn't want him to walk away to go sulk by himself somewhere, struggling with this thing of his all alone. I put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"It is so my business! Look, you're skulking around the lair like some kinda zombie and I just don' wanna see that any-more!"

He twisted himself around, tearing away from me. "Let go of me!"

I felt a frown shoot on my face at this, not liking his sudden aggression. "I ain't lettin' ya leave till we sort this out Mike!"

He turned to march away angrily. "You can't tell me what to do Raph! You're not the boss of me!"

I gave a small growl, reaching out and grabbing him by the shoulder again. "Look would ya just _listen_ to me?!"

He slapped my hand away, rather hard. "I said let go! Look what is your _problem?!"_

"My _problem_ is I'm sick of you lettin' whatever this is poison ya alive!" I said.

"Well hey, That's your issue not mine!" He said, slapping his chest with his hands at me meaningfully.

I made a scoffing noise at this, I could hear the volume in my voice rise. "So you're sayin' it ain't your issue that ya got some kinda problem you're not talkin' about?!"

"So what if I'm not?!" He said, his voice going slightly louder than mine. "It doesn't matter alright?! You think whatever the heck you want but just leave me alone ok?! I'm not gonna do this with you!"

"It does _so_ matter!!" I was yelling by now. "And I ain't leavin' ya alone!"

"Typical!" He yelled back. "You always whine that I bug the shell offa ya but then when I start leaving you alone you whine 'cause you don't like it!"

I gave my head a hard shake. "Don't try ta turn this back on me Mikey! It Ain't gonna work!"

"I'm not! But if you wanna think that then fine! be my guest! Just leave me out of it" He spun around to leave.

I growled angrily, grabbing him by both shoulders and turning him back to face me. "Look would ya just-!!"

He put his hands to my plastron and gave me a hard shove off of him.

I had to adjust my stance to keep my balance. I blinked at him, bewildered for only a fraction of a second before I felt my blood boil. He scowled at me, his shoulders arched forward.

He said nothing and I knew he was furious. You wanna see something freaky? Try Mikey when he's mad. He goes all super quiet and he gets this sharpness to his eyes when he glares at you.

I took a step closer to him, trying to keep myself from blowing up. "Mikey. I ain't playin' around-"

The second I got too close he shot his hands out again and shoved me back a second time.

That did it.

I gritted my teeth and instinctively threw my own arms out, not even fully aware I was doing so as I shoved him back. "_Cut it out!"_

He lunged forward to shove me a third time. I grabbed hold of him, gripping one his wrists tightly to stop him from pushing me again. I just wanted him to stop! He wriggled in my grip, shot me an ugly look before he gave a tight, angry noise and shot out a hand. I felt the strike against my face, the sudden icy sting on my cheek followed by the flash of heat as blood rushed under my skin around the area.

I was so shocked that for a moment I didn't even realise what he'd just done.

My vision flashed and I snapped.

I gave an angry cry and shot out a hand but he twisted himself free from my grip before he jumped out of the way. He avoided my blow before he launched himself forward right at me. I tried grabbing him to twist him off course but when I got my hands on him he lashed out. I felt him tackle me around my middle, knocking me over. I dug my fingers around the ridges on his shell, dragging him down with me. I felt control get seared away as my whole attention was focused purely on hitting him. I knew he hit back. I could feel it but it only half registered in my head. All I could think of was to drill into him. No reason. No logic. My thoughts and instinct concentrated only on hitting as hard as I could. Whiteness was piercing into my vision as I felt electricity shoot through my arm every time I threw a punch. Everything. Everything focused just on hitting him.

I felt a powerful lurch and something hauled me off of him violently. I felt my stomach turn at the sudden jolt but I was only stunned for a moment. I struggled furiously against whatever was restraining me, but this only caused it to tighten. I half heard words being yelled at me from somewhere close by as I glared at my opponent.

I saw him standing a few feet in front of me, arched towards me threateningly. Rage was still in his face but something was physically holding him back, preventing him from shooting forward towards me.

I struggled with an outraged cry, trying to rip myself free and finish the fight but again I felt the bonds around me tighten when I did so. Again I heard the sobering cold of some-one yelling at me. I heard my name being said as my blind rage started to cool.

"_Raphael for the love of God CALM DOWN."_

I eased my struggle, turning my glare back at Mikey. This time I could make out the arms locked around his chest, pinning him and stopping him from coming at me. I became aware of the tense muscles locked around me in a submission hold as well. Mikey was baring his teeth, his eyes narrowed at me and I felt my anger well up again. It was stopped short when my line of vision was blocked by a blue and white mirage. I turned to glare at it instead, recognizing the stony posture of Usagi. He glared straight back and didn't break eye contact. His eyes were hard and chilling. Somewhere deep inside me I felt my will buckle slightly. Just enough to regain my senses.

"Raph What the _ Hell_ is going on?!" I heard Leo's voice, realising it was him who was holding me back. Somewhere behind Usagi I heard Donny's voice say something to Mike.

I gave a frustrated snarl and tried to pull free from him again but he had me pinned tight. "_Leo Get the hell offa me!!_" I snapped.

"Are you out of your _mind?!"_ He yelled, not letting go. "Raphael what in Heaven's name did you think you think you were _doing?!"_

I felt deeply insulted by this statement, my anger bubbling up all over again. "What am _I_ Doin'?! I Ain't doin' Jack _shit!!"_

"What do you you call this?!" Leo screamed, letting me go. He sounded angrier than I was. "We come in to see what the noise is and we find you two beating the hell out of each other!! What were you thinking?! Do you _honestly_ think we need to deal with _your_ hot-headed, irrational _bullshit_ right now?!"

"Hey! _Fuck _you!!" I yelled back as I spun to face him, enraged by the accusation. "Why the hell do you automatically assume it's _me?! _What kinda sick, mindless psycho do you think I-?!"

I was cut off when I felt a hard blow from behind, knocking me down. I slammed against the ground rather hard before I spun around to face what had hit me. I saw Leo shoot forward and grab hold of Mikey, dragging my struggling brother off of me.

As soon as I felt myself free I jumped to my feet. A hand shot out and planted itself firmly on my chest, not in a blow but hard enough to stop me from lunging at Mikey again. I half registered the white fur and the commanding. _'Yamero!', _ordering me to stay put.

Leo had grabbed Mikey and was holding him back. Mikey was trying to pry himself loose, with little success.

"Michelangelo calm down!" Leo said loudly, but with less anger and more shock than when he'd told me to do the same thing.

Mikey wasn't listening. He gave a last attempt to twist himself free before giving up, settling for trying to bore holes into me with his eyes instead. I saw his shoulders raise and his face twist. Unable to react on his anger physically, he was forced to settle for words.

"_What the hell do you want from me Raph?!"_ He shouted as furious tears ran down his face. "_What?!_"

"I don' want _nothin'_ from ya!!" I screamed back, trying to take a step forward but I felt Usagi increase the pressure in his hand on my plastron, preventing me from doing so.

"Why can't you just leave me alone?!" Mikey yelled. "_I hate you!!"_

A tremor ran through me and I froze, gaping at him. I stood dumbstruck for a moment before I opened my mouth to shoot back a retort but in my hesitation he interrupted again.

"I _hate_ you!!" He repeated, putting extra venom into the word, struggling against Leo again. "_ I_ _HATE you_!!"

I physically flinched each time. I felt my rage catch fire and expected the familiar explosion of fury to start all over again, but every time it was about to Mikey shot it down, repeating the word over and over again. Not adding anything to his argument. Just repeating himself endlessly, hammering the word further and further into my brain.

"_I HATE you!"_

"Mikey! Mikey for heaven's sake calm down!!" Leo was saying but I could hear the underlying desperation in his voice now, his anger gone.

I glared at my Mikey, gritting my teeth but I could feel my anger burning itself out. I felt reality flood back into focus. I could see Leo trying to keep a firm grip around Mikey's chest, staring at him with an expression somewhere between assertiveness and horror. I saw Donny a good few paces behind them, his hands both raised to his face as he bit down on a thumb, his shoulder visibly shaking as he watched us with a panicked expression. I saw Usagi standing right in front of me, his eyes focused on mine, his officer's stare staying but I could see the shaken confusion underneath it. I saw Mikey, finally shutting up as tears ran down his face, keeping his eyes locked on me with a seething expression. I became aware of the taste of copper in my mouth and the dull ache from where he'd hit me.

The word was still ringing in my ears. I could hear it echoing in my head as I watched him glare straight at me with nothing but pure loathing. My chest was tightening and I felt the slow, prickling sensation of blood flooding into my face.

I spun around, out of Usagi's hand and marched away from the scene as fast as I could. I heard Usagi call after me but I ignored him. A bitter sensation was growing in my stomach as I felt something choke me. I tried desperately to dig up my anger so that I could fume and glower but it was no use. I felt my energy drain away, my rage being replaced by something dark and knotted.

I found myself in my room, not completely sure how I'd gotten there as I slammed the door behind me before leaning my shell against it. The room felt absurdly quiet, dark and empty.

I slid down the door, sitting against it. My hands curled tightly into fists as I realised I was shaking all over. My heart was throbbing in my chest like it was trying to punch its way out. The twisted feeling in my gut didn't go away and my face stung with the rush of blood. My vision started to blur.

In the silence Mikey's words looped themselves in my mind, louder each time.

'I hate you.'

I shut my eyes tight but it was no use. The knot in my stomach broke, and I felt my shoulders start to twitch.

**Xxxxx**

_Out of all the chapters I've done, I think I struggled the most with this one._

_I could've split this into 2 chapters easily, but that would've broken the flow of the whole event. So extra, ridiculously long chapter it is!_


	23. Splinter's Council

_I don't own TMNT or UY._

_I REALLY shouldn't be uploading this as I haven't finished chapter 25 yet... but seeing as I rewrote chapter 24 today as well as half of chapter 25, I felt it would be alright to break the rule this ONE TIME. But never again. Somtimes the only thing keeping me going is knowing I have a cool chapter already written but I can't upload it till the next one's done._

_Also... I felt Raph deserved this chapter._

**Xxxxx**

I sat in silence, arms resting on my knees as I listened to the nothing in my room. I had heard voices outside for a while but they'd gone quiet by now. At some point Leo came to bang on my door, asking me to come out so he could hear what the hell just happened but I ignored him and eventually he went away. I wasn't mad at him or anything, I just really couldn't handle listening to goody goody Leo right now. I know he was freaking out, and it's not that I didn't care, but I just wanted to be selfish and focus on me and how I was feeling; and I was feeling like shit.

How the hell did I screw this one up? I thought things were going ok. I tried running the scene over in my head again to try and pin-point just where exactly I messed up but it was all still too fresh in my mind and I felt the whole event meshed together in a giant blur. Dammit. Probably would've been fine if I didn't fly off the handle, _again. _I didn't mean to I swear. Mikey had just really ticked me off when he wouldn't stop shoving me. I shouldn't have hit back though. Urgh! Why do I always do that?!

I sighed to myself. I shouldn't have tried talking to him. I mean yeah, _some-one_ should have tried talking to him, but I shouldn't have tried doing it myself. I mean I keep saying it but I'm really not _good_ with this kinda stuff. I know what I _want_ to say but somehow what I want to say and what I actually say are always completely different things. It's like my tongue ain't connected to my brain right or something. It makes sense in my head but then when I try saying it out loud it just all goes to hell.

I mean heck; 'Mikey. You're hurt, you're sad and I'm very worried about you. Please talk to me.' That Ain't that hard is it?! Yet surprise surprise, I'd somehow found a way to mess it up and turn it into a scene. I just made things worse. Ain't no way Mikey's gonna tell any-body what's wrong _now._ And who do we have to thank for that? Yo, right here! Raphael Hamato! At your service!

Jackass.

I got up, my legs getting sore from sitting on the ground for so long. I pulled down my mask and rubbed my face roughly. Stupid wuss. Why you gotta be so quick to start blubbering?

I removed the bandanna and retied it around my face.

I don't think Mikey meant it. Oh sure some part of me knew he was just yelling whatever he knew would hurt me the most but at the same time... it hit a nerve. I mean I've done some pretty mean things to him in the past. Never 'cause I really wanted something bad to happen to him, but sometimes I'd just lose perspective and do something stupid, not really thinking about the consequences. The incident with the lead pipe comes to mind despite my efforts to stop it. But that's just one big thing, there's a million other tiny things that just build and build to form one giant shadow of mistakes leading all the way from when we were kids. Call it paranoia or insecurity or whatever the heck you like, but the point is hearing Mikey physically say something that I guess I'd secretly been afraid of really messed me up bad. It hurt.

I grumbled to myself thumping a fist against the wall half-heartedly. And of course I hadn't achieved a damn thing. I still had no clue what was bothering him. Heck I didn't even have the foggiest idea. He hadn't let slip anything, and now I'm gonna have to try explaining to Leo what happened and I'm gonna have to try sorting things out with Mike and Sensei will probably have me apologise to every-one formally for being an idiot. Ugh! Makes my head pound just thinking about it!

There was a knock at the door. I winced, turning to look at it but not answering. If it's Leo again he's just gonna hafta accept I really don't wanna hear him right now.

When I didn't answer the knocker spoke up. "Raphael? I know you are in there my son."

I gave a long, drawn out groan. Great, that's all I needed.

"Yeah." I answered, subconsciously crossing my arms.

The door opened and Master Splinter walked in, the light from the hallway flooding into the dark room. I didn't turn to look at him, knowing he was gonna give me his disappointed expression he only saved for when one of us royally screws up. I leaned my shell against the wall instead. I kinda wanted to say something but I had no idea where to start so I just kept quiet.

He came over to me but stopped a few feet or so away. He paused before he said anything.

"You appear to have calmed down."

"Don't be so sure." I said darkly, still unable to look at him. "...you here ta tan my hide?"

"No." His tone of voice was calm.

There was another pause in which I found myself turning to face him slightly. He was standing silently in front of me, his sharp eyes focused on me intensely. He didn't look mad though and I relaxed a tiny bit.

I looked away again when I asked my next question. "Mikey ok?"

Splinter gave a sigh. "He is still highly upset, but he will calm in due time. He is not injured."

I felt relieved but hid it. I didn't know why, maybe just to be defiant and not show how messed up I really felt.

I heard Splinter take a few step closer and I turned to him again. I saw him look me over slowly and carefully, not saying anything for a few moments.

"You are not hurt?" He asked carefully.

I gave my head a shake. "Nah."

He nodded but didn't look any more relaxed. "That is good."

I shifted my weight slightly. Master Splinter wasn't asking direct questions about what happened, but I could tell he was in no hurry to leave. He was trying to get me to say something on my own. Now sure I can try and belt up and just stay quiet, but I knew from experience he wasn't gonna leave till he knew what had happened and why. No point trying to act tough in front of him.

I shook my head again with a slight noise.

"Didn't mean for it to go down like that..." I mumbled as an apology.

Splinter blinked at me quietly. "What were you hoping for my son?"

I felt my mouth pull slightly. "I was tryin' ta talk to him. I wasn't even mad! I just..." I huffed, feeling frustrated. "I just wanted to talk."

Splinter nodded. "I see."

"I mean he's been actin' weird for days now!" I blurted out before I could stop myself. "He's been mopin' around and actin' like the world's comin' to an end and it's just been drivin' me crazy! I didn't mean for it ta blow up like it did, honest! I just thought maybe if I tried talkin' to him he'd tell me what was wrong and I could.. .." my sentence petered out pathetically. "I dunno.. I could.. do _somethin'._"

I gave an aggravated breath. "It ain't right. Him actin' like this."

Splinter said nothing for a few moments, letting me finish before he spoke again.

"You feel he is wrong behaving the way he is?" He asked.

I shook my head hurriedly at this. "Nah not like that. I mean.. sure he's kinda bein' a downer ta every-one else but that ain't it at all. I just.." I ran my hands back over my head. "He's just... this ain't him and it's drivin' me outta my mind 'cause I don't know what's wrong. I.." I hesitated, turning to face Master Splinter straight on. "I wanna help."

Splinter nodded again, but this time it was a nod of understanding. "Ah."

"He's drivin' me nuts Sensei, he really is." I said. "I just... I wanted ta talk to him." I finished lamely, crossing my arms again and glaring at the floor.

Master Splinter took the last remaining step forward and I felt a gentle hand placed on my arms.

"It is alright Raphael." I heard him say.

I shook my head, turning to look at him "But it ain't is it? All I did was manage ta piss him off and cause this whole mess and just freak every-one out even more."

He was staring at me with a sympathetic look. "Your actions may not have been the wisest Raphael, but your heart was in the right place."

I made a small noise, slowly feeling myself relax more. "I didn't think he'd lash out at me like that. I guess I pushed too hard."

Sensei's whiskers twitched lightly. "He hit you first?"

I hesitated, the word 'tattle-tale' spinning around my head. But I'd already spilled the beans so I gave a reluctant nod.

Master Splinter took back his hand with a troubled noise. "He is more distressed than I thought."

"What the heck's goin' on with him Sensei?" I asked, maybe more desperately than needed.

"I do not know my son." Splinter said truthfully, his face a mask of worry.

"You gonna try ask 'im?" I asked hopefully.

"Mmm." Splinter thought for a moment. "Perhaps it would not be wise to pressure him just yet." He turned to look at me again. "I had thought to try and speak with him during this time before the next move is carried out, but if he is still so defensive about it then it would be best to give him more time. At the very least until he is calmer following this event."

I flinched slightly, lowering my gaze.

"...I'm sorry Sensei." I said.

He shook his head and gave me a caring smile. "You are a very passionate person Raphael, and I know you feel your emotions strongly. You should not apologise for caring about your brothers."

I grumbled something meaninglessly at this, feeling embarrassed. That was a little too touchy feely for me, especially since I knew it was true.

Master Splinter reached out and patting my arm comfortingly, giving me an affectionate smile. "I will speak with Leonardo and let him know it was only a misunderstanding that spun out of control. He will not reprimand you."

"You won't tell 'im what I said will ya?" I asked, a little nervous about this. I didn't want Leo to hear what a big baby I was being.

Splinter gave a small chuckle. "No, I will not repeat to him what you have told me apart from that you were trying to help."

I gave a grateful nod and tried to return the smile.

"Should I..." I gave a small shrug. "I dunno... go say I'm sorry ta Mikey or somethin'?"

"You were not the one who started the fight," Splinter said, placing both hands on his cane. "Do you feel it necessary?"

I made a noise. "I dunno. He was pretty mad at me." I physically felt my expression pain. "He.. he said some stuff that kinda bugged me."

I saw Splinter drop his smile, staring at me gently. "What did he say?"

I pulled a face, feeling my shoulders tense. I broke my gaze from him. "He sorta said... ...he said he hated my guts."

"Is that what he said, or is that how you interpreted it?" Splinter asked cautiously.

I shook my head, staring at the floor. "That's what he said..."

Splinter made a caring noise, as if he was tutting a child before he walked to stand next to me. He reached out and put a hand on my shoulder. I felt him give me a soft squeeze.

"He lies, my son." He said with a soothing tone.

I said nothing before I gave a small nod. "I know..."

"Do you?" Splinter asked, tilting his head very slightly, eyeing me.

I thought for a few moments.

I nodded again, turning to look him in the eyes.

"Yeah. I know."

**Xxxxx**

_._


	24. Donny's Speculation

_I don't own TMNT or UY._

**Xxxxx**

What happened between Raph and Mikey yesterday really got to me. I admit, my first thoughts had automatically been that Raph had, for some reason or another, lost it and lashed out. But some-how, learning that it had in fact been Mikey who'd started the fight just made the whole situation seem worse. And after we'd had such a good day too. It was very unsettling.

When Raph marched out the room I had tried to calm Mike down and get him to tell me what had happened, not in detail since he was still angry but at least so I'd know what Raph had done to infuriate him this badly. Mikey didn't want to talk though. He'd pulled himself out of my arms and had told me to leave him alone and that he was tired of every-one sticking their noses into his personal business. Seeing the danger I immediately dropped it and told him if he didn't want to tell me right now it was ok. He seemed to calm down a little at this but not by much. I somehow got the impression he was suddenly angry at me too, although I had no idea why.

But I've had many shouting matches with Raph and I knew the pitfalls when it comes to dealing with an angry brother. I left him alone, telling him he didn't need to talk to me, just to go and cool down. After that he'd turned and left the main room, exiting the lair and disappearing into the sewers. I was uncomfortable with that but I didn't know if running after him was such a good idea.

Before the rest of us could make any other move, Master Splinter came into the room. Seeing the opportunity to put my worries at rest I quickly told him about the fight and that Mikey had left the lair. I was relieved when Sensei went after him.

I was left with Usagi and Donny. What the heck had just happened? I thought everything was fine. Why on Earth would Mikey and Raph suddenly blow up at each other like that? They haven't had a fight this bad in _years_. It didn't make any sense. They only possible link to any of this I could see was the fact that Mikey had been feeling very depressed lately. I mean I'd noticed it but I didn't think it was _this_ serious. But then, I hadn't had time to give it proper attention. I was trying to be there for Usagi and try and keep us going down the proper path as the leader. Somehow, with my mind split in so many directions, Mikey's unhappiness had slipped through the cracks a little. It had reached the point where I guess it'd just become too much and exploded.

I don't know. I didn't have all the facts so all I could do was speculate meaninglessly.

When Master Splinter left I turned to look at Donny. He stood silently, hugging himself tightly. He appeared to be shaking but I could see he was calming down. I walked over to him to make sure he was alright. He'd nodded in response, telling me he was just shaken. After that I excused myself to the two of them and went to try and coerce Raph out of his room so I could talk to him. I wasn't going to yell, I just wanted to know what was going on. I hadn't been very successful though, and eventually I gave up and let him brood.

When I came back to the main room Donny had gone but Usagi was still standing where I'd left him. I was concerned at first, not liking that he had once again gotten sucked into our dirty laundry. However when I came closer he'd given me a sympathetic look and quietly said; '_Daijoubu?_' asking me if I was ok. I realised the reason he hadn't left the room was because he'd been waiting for me to get back to make sure I was alright. I'd nodded in response to his question, although in reality I felt far from ok.

A short time later Master Splinter had returned, bringing Mikey with him. Mike didn't say anything, heading for his room and closing the door. After that Splinter had gone to Raph's room. It was a while before he came out again.

When he exited he told me what he'd been able to figure out. Raph had apparently tried asking Mikey why he'd been feeling so down lately and somehow the conversation had gotten out of hand. Mikey got angry and a fight broke out. Master Splinter didn't tell me the exact details, he only said that it wasn't Raph's fault and that I shouldn't lecture him about it or pry deeper into what happened. This worried me but I had no choice but to agree.

After that Sensei had left to find Donny. I felt bad for our father, always having to do damage control like this.

The food Don had been preparing had burnt to a crisp by the time things had calmed down enough to get to it and frankly, no-one felt in the mood to prepare a meal from scratch all over again. So out came the list of phone-numbers and we ordered pizza.

Heh. That feels very nostalgic somehow. Possibly because by now it had been such a long time since we'd ordered out for junk food; eating as a the band of brothers we are, loud and energetic. Things had become so weird with all of this, it feels almost like a full year ago, not just a few weeks.

Dinner had been tense. Mikey and Raph had both come out of hiding to join us which I was relieved to see, but they didn't say a word to each other and avoided looking each other in the eye. None of us said very much and we ate in silence.

That is until Usagi said he didn't like the food very much, causing Raph to snicker and Mikey to give him a look of disbelieving horror. After that the tension in the air seemed to ease up a little bit, despite the continuing weird vibe between Raph and Mike.

Now it was morning again. I was the first awake, blowing on my mug of coffee as I sat alone in the kitchen, listening to the faint rumble of subway trains somewhere overhead. You could only hear them when things were absolutely silent in the lair. I guess some people might consider the notion of hearing trains when it's quiet as annoying, but I'd grown up listening to the noise late at night before falling asleep as well as in the small hours of the morning before any-one else was up. I found it a quiet comfort. It was something familiar, homey, and unchanging.

I sighed before drinking deeply from my mug. I had trouble getting to sleep last night, and when I finally did I had the vague memory of troubling dreams. But I couldn't remember them now, only that they had made my sleep feel restless. When I woke up in the middle of the night I'd noticed Donny wasn't there. He must've been pulling another all nighter, or maybe he just wasn't able to sleep. I had half a mind to get up and go find him, but I was tired and before I could act on it I had fallen asleep again.

Despite my anxiety I found it easier to sleep in Donny's room or some reason. When we were little kids all four of us had shared a room together in the _old_ old lair. Even earlier than that we had, all five of us, shared a room. I had very vague memories of even earlier than that when we had no room to share, but we were all together all the same, but it was so long ago I couldn't recall it properly. Bunking with a brother was not a strange concept. Mikey especially would slip into one of our rooms during the night and bunk down for one reason or another. But I'd been sharing a room with Donny now for well over a week. It'd passed the feeling of just 'rooming together'. It reminded me more of when we were little than anything else.

It's strange. I wonder why I've been feeling so sentimental lately. Maybe it was just a comfort thing. A coping mechanism or something. I didn't really know but I didn't over-think it.

"_Ohayo_" Came the, by now, familiar greeting as Usagi came into the room, his hands to his ears as he did the knot, tying them back.

I smiled at him. "Morning."

He got himself one of the traditional teacups and went about making himself a cup of green tea as if he owned the place. I bit my lip, trying not to grin too broadly.

"Did you sleep well Leonardo?" He asked, turning to face me.

I gave a half-shrug. "I didn't really sleep _well_, but I did manage to sleep. So I guess it was ok."

Usagi nodded, coming back and sitting down at the table himself, blowing on his cup.

"The tension is thick." He commented. "Every-one is aware it will not be long before we make our move. It is not strange to feel restless."

I nodded solemnly, taking another sip of my own mug. "Yeah."

He drank his tea thoughtfully. "This whole situation is becoming tiresome. I will be happy once we can put it behind us."

I gave a light laugh, surprised I was still able to do so. "That kinda goes without saying doesn't it?"

He lifted his eyes to me. "Well. Yes. But it is not only the resolution I am anxious for." He gave a sigh, cradling the cup in both hands as he swirled the liquid slightly. "There are other reasons contributing to my wish for this ordeal to come to an end."

I blinked at this, putting my mug down. I felt a slight unease grow in me. He was probably getting sick of listening to the lot of us fight all the time. "Oh?"

He nodded. "I can not remember the last time I have stayed in a single place as long as I have done here." He sipped from his cup again. "In a way it is a great comfort, but the lack of simple mobility is a little bit frustrating. I miss being able to walk amongst people in the open."

I relaxed a little and gave a nod. "It's not exactly the same as running the length and width of Japan is it?"

He gave a light laugh at this. "No it is not. However it is not the roaming I miss. After all I do not plan to carry out the rest of my days as a vagabond. But I do miss the simpler things. The sun being the highest on the list. Followed closely by a more natural surrounding."

I smiled and gave an understanding nod. "It's hard to get use to. Heck I've lived like this my whole life and it's _still_ hard to get use to."

Usagi smiled and nodded. He then rolled his eyes slightly as he sat back in his seat. "As I sit here and insult your accommodations and way of life. I apologise. It is not my place."

I gave a shrug. "Everybody needs to complain now and again." I gave him a smile. "And besides we're not very strict on etiquette here. Insult away."

Usagi laughed again, finishing his cup.

It felt good to talk like this. To trick myself into thinking things are still normal. Mikey and Raph's fight still weighed heavily on my mind, and I knew it wasn't something I could just pretend didn't happen. Eventually I was gonna have to try and patch things up between them if they don't do it themselves. But at the same time it was a great stress reliever to have an obscenely normal conversation with my friend without us focusing on worry, or stress, or lack of success, or children that were in danger, or the foreboding knowledge that soon we were gonna jump into something we all knew would drag us in way over our heads.

"What d'you plan to do when we get Jotaro out of there?" I asked. Purposefully using the word 'when' and not 'if'.

Usagi blinked, thinking for a few moments. "The very first step would be to get back to my home dimension and then travel to the village so that I may inform his mother that he is unhurt." He pulled a slight face at his own thoughts. "Although I am afraid of what her reaction will be to us having been out of contact for so long."

"Will it be ok?" I asked with concern.

He paused for a moment with a thoughtful noise before he nodded hesitantly. "I believe so." He turned back to me and gave a shaky grin. "Hopefully."

I gave him a reassuring smile. "I'm sure she'll understand if you explain things."

He gave a puff of a breath worriedly but nodded.

I chuckled at him, finishing the last of my coffee.

I put the mug down on the table.

"Of course," I found myself saying. "It's gonna be kinda lonely when you go."

He turned back to look at me with a slightly stunned expression, tilting his head.

I wasn't able to elaborate though because, as if on cue, Donny came into the room and interrupted us. We both turned to look at him as he came in, looking dead tired but wide awake nonetheless.

I gave him a smile. "Morning."

He gave me a nod, coming over "Good Morning."

I eyed him. "I noticed you didn't sleep tonight either." I said, purposefully trying to shame him for it.

I heard Usagi make a noise at this, almost as if he was annoyed.

Donny held up his hands. "I know I know. My bad. But I couldn't sleep and well... there was something bugging me that I wanted to go over."

This time I frowned at him, turning in my seat slightly. "That's no excuse Don."

He groaned, sounding almost impatient. "Yes yes I know. Look I'll sleep all day tomorrow if you want me to. Right now I really need to talk to you."

I blinked at this. "Is something wrong?"

He bit his lip. "I don't know. Maybe."

I frowned again, more deeply. I nudged a chair with a foot. "Sit." I said to him.

He nodded and took the seat, his eyes fixed on mine. They were tired, but focused and serious, staring at me hard.

"What's going on?" I asked him.

I heard the noise of a chair as Usagi got up and went to the kettle, switching it on again before turning back to face us as he waited for it to boil.

Donny pulled a slight face, his gaze breaking from mine. "I don't know if I should really tell you just yet." He shook his head and turned his eyes to me again. "I don't really have any solid facts or anything but... but I've come across too many coincidences and, I'm concerned that if I don't at least tell you what I'm thinking it's gonna hurt us later."

I kept my frown. "You're babbling Donny. What are you trying to say?"

He made a frustrated noise, sitting back in his chair. "I don't know. It's just... I've been trying to piece things together from Bishop's files, and I'm worried about how I've gotten all the pieces to match up."

A corner of his mouth twitched almost into a smile for a moment. "It's probably nothing but paranoia and sleeplessness. But..." It faded again and he looked troubled. "But there's too much information backing up a theory I've come up with."

I pulled a slight face. I wasn't liking the sounds of this. The kettle switched itself off and I heard Usagi messing with some mugs and teacups behind me.

"Why don't you just tell me and I'll let you know if it sounds like paranoia to me." I said gently.

Donny took a breath. "I don't wanna scare any-one."

My frown deepened. "The more you say stuff like that the more you're scaring me anyway."

Don turned to look at me again before he swallowed and gave a reluctant nod. "Yeah. Yeah I guess you're right."

Usagi came back, placing a mug in front of Donny as well as one in front of me before he sat back down, a cup in his own hands. I could smell the scent of green tea wafting up from the drink. I gave him a small nod as thanks, knowing he wouldn't take offence since I was occupied with Donny at the moment.

Don took a deep breath, as if preparing himself.

"Well. First off I've completely exhausted those files. There's absolutely nothing more in there that's gonna benefit us. I mean the info was pretty scratchy to begin with, but I've combed through all of it hundreds of times now and really, there's nothing more I can do."

I nodded, listening quietly as I picked up the teacup, blowing on it absent-mindedly. Donny picked up his own as he spoke.

"After I was sure there was nothing I'd missed regarding the base itself I started looking into the files that didn't really have much to do with it, like the meeting minutes and employment files. There wasn't much to go on, but I think I was able to piece together enough stuff to at least have a theory on what Bishop might be doing."

I nodded again. "Go on."

He shook his head slightly. "Before I get to that, there's this Tibalt guy. Our man in the blue suit. There's no employment file on him which struck me as rather strange. Sadly it means I can't paint a proper picture of him but I did manage to get an idea of how he's involved even if I still don't really know who he is. He doesn't seem to be working for Bishop. That is he's working for Bishop yes, but he's doing so under the orders of a second party or something. In the minutes between him and Bishop, Tibalt often refers to 'my boss' or 'our benefactor'. It seems wheoever Mr Blue suit is really working for has some kind of hand in all of this."

I frowned, not liking the sudden appearance of a third player. "Any idea on who it is?" I asked.

Donny shook his head mournfully. "Not a clue. There's not so much as a hint in what I've been able to find. It doesn't look like Bishop has had any direct contact with him. Tibalt seems to act as a kind of messenger boy between them."

I sunk with a thoughtful noise, taking a sip from my tea. This complicated things. But it wasn't a major set-back or anything luckily. It merely meant Bishop is pandering to some-one for money. It didn't change our mission or what we had to do. Our focus was on rescuing Jotaro. All this other stuff are just distractions. All the same though, I was worried it might spell trouble.

"You say he referred to this man as 'benefactor'." Usagi interrupted. "Does that mean he is providing Bishop with funds?"

Donny nodded. "Looks like it."

I pulled a slight face. "Any idea what for?"

Donny gave another nod, but more hesitantly. "I think so but I'm not sure." He shook his head and turned to look at me again. "And this is what I wanted to talk to you about. There are quite a few files regarding something called 'Project Gateway'. It was mentioned in Jotaro's file as well but it's not mentioned in any of the other specimen files. It also seems to be the main topic whenever Bishop and Tibalt are discussing business. I'm not entirely sure what it is exactly, but I think," He swallowed. "I think I might be able to guess based on what I have."

I blinked at him anxiously. "Yes?"

He took a slight breath before he continued.

"It seems that, for some reason, Bishop is trying to create a portal device of his own." He lifted his eyes to look at me nervously. "I mean, that's what I_ think_ he's doing."

My frown deepened. This didn't sound good at all.

"Wait," Usagi interrupted again. "Why would that be necessary?"

I turned to him, slightly confused. "What d'you mean?"

He turned to look at me with a light frown. "If he is trying to build a portal gate then that would imply he is unable to travel between dimensions at this present time. But then how is it that this demon named 'Tibalt' is able to create portals on his own? Is it not meaningless to try building something when you already have some-one in your employment who is able to accomplish the task without it?"

Donny shifted in his chair nervously. "Well yeah... unless...."

I turned back to him, not liking his tone. "Unless what Don?"

Donny chewed his lip before looking up at me again. "Unless he needs a bigger portal. You know, so that," He cleared his throat nervously. "a larger number of people can warp at once."

I felt a cold chill run through me at this, my eyes widening as I stared at Don. He stared right back at me, as if he was begging me to tell him he was wrong. I blinked and recovered myself, but I felt the pained expression settle on my face as I tried to digest this new fact. A larger portal. Big enough for a large group of people to use at once. That alone felt rather ominous. But the fact that it was Bishop who was building such a thing made my blood run cold. Bishop, who is obsessed with creating his super-human army. Bishop who believed with his whole being the only defence is an offence. It didn't leave much up to the imagination as what he would do with a thing like that.

"Are you implying that this man might try to invade 2nd Earth?" Usagi asked.

I could hear the very slight tremor in his voice. I turned to glance at him. He was staring at Donny with wide eyes, leaning forward in his seat. I noticed the fur on the back of his hands bristling ever so slightly.

Donny shook his head but not to say 'no'. "I don't know. I'm only telling you what I _think_ might be going on in that man's head based on the facts I've managed to find. That might not be his intention at all. After all if he wanted to start a war he'd be talking to the military and not to a private benefactor. There's... there's just not enough information to be a 100 percent sure of anything."

"Yeah but that could also mean he's building it so that whoever's funding him could use it." I said.

Donny nodded again. "Maybe, but then you gotta wonder what's in it for Bishop? Besides some extra money for his own projects I mean. You know the government is losing its patience with him and have cut his budget. Hence the whole 'fake invasion' stunt he pulled a while back."

I gave a tight shrug. "I can't try and guess Bishop's motives. I've never been able to figure him out. But whatever the reason and whatever he plans to do with it the fact remains that _Bishop_ will have a backdoor to Usagi's dimension. And no matter how you look at it, that's a very, _very _bad thing."

Donny pulled a grim face and nodded. "If that is what he's doing. I mean I can't even give you a solid yes or no if he's actually building a portal or not. It could be something else entirely. But," He sunk with a breath. "I've checked over the information and no matter how I look at it, that's what it seems to spell out. Besides, the name 'Project Gateway' isn't doing much to dispel my theory."

"But this is terrible news!" Usagi suddenly blurted out, standing up sharply. "We can not have that man infiltrating where I come from! We have not the technology to combat him! Nor do we have the unity amongst the provinces to stand together against him! We have barely settled the civil war! There are _still_ Lords and Daimyos who fight amongst themselves for power over land! There is too much animosity between us as a nation to band together against such an overwhelming threat!"

"Hey hey hey, calm down!" I said hurriedly, getting up and rounding the table quickly, seeing the rising panic in his face. I put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it. "Calm down. We're gonna handle it."

Usagi shook his head violently, his hands curling into tight fists. "If that man marches into our country we would not stand a chance!"

I nodded, increasing the pressure in my hand gently, but not enough to hurt him. "I know. I know that Usagi. But calm down. We don't know anything for sure just yet. Donny's just trying to give us his opinions. It doesn't mean it's true."

Donny nodded dumbly, staring at Usagi with a guilt-ridden expression.

Usagi went quiet and took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. He closed his eyes, staying silent for a few minutes.

"I know we are merely speculating," He said, turning to look at me. "But the mere thought of it is too terrible to comprehend." He shook his head tightly and I felt him tense up again. "Leonardo he will _annihilate _us."

I felt my expression harden as I shook my own head, not taking my eyes off his. "No he won't."

Usagi pulled a face, clenching his teeth. I could see the distress growing in his face. He almost looked terrified. It shook me. I'd never seen him get this unhinged.

"He will crush us." He said.

I shook my head again, putting my other hand on his other shoulder. "No. He won't."

Usagi said nothing, staring at me in silence. I gave his shoulders a slight squeeze before easing up a little.

"He's not gonna touch you, or your friends, or your world Usagi. I won't let him."

Usagi took a deep, shaking breath before he nodded. I felt some of the tension in his shoulders relax just slightly.

"I didn't mean to scare any-body." I heard Donny say with a sigh.

I turned to look at him. He was staring at the top of the table, looking ashamed of himself. I shook my head at him, letting go of one of Usagi's shoulders but keeping the other one in my grip gently.

"It's better we know now than we get there and find out when we're unprepared." I told him.

Donny shook his head slightly. "But it might not even be true."

I nodded. "Maybe not. But if there's even the slightest chance that it is, we need to be ready to stop it in its tracks."

Donny nodded thoughtfully. He then straightened and nodded again more meaningfully, turning to look at me, his expression more determined.

I felt Usagi slip out my hand as he sank back down in his chair. He put his elbows on the table and put his head in his hands, giving a very deep sigh.

"Somehow... this has all become.. ..much larger than I can handle by myself" He said weakly.

I stared at him sympathetically, replacing my hand on his shoulder again as I leaned down a little to talk to him.

"You're not gonna have to." I said. "I'm not abandoning you now Usagi. We're seeing this through together; whatever it is Bishop's got in store for us."

He turned his head to blink at me wearily.

"I just want my son so that we can go home." He said. His tone of voice sounded so dejected. He looked at the end of his rope and for once he seemed to not care enough to try and hide it. It didn't suit him at all.

I gave him an encouraging nod. "Don't worry. We're gonna fix this."

He stared at me, as if trying to figure out if I was somehow lying to him. He then exhaled and gave a nod.

I nodded back, satisfied that he understood I was being serious about what I said. There was no chance, no chance in hell of us backing out of this now. If anything, this had just reinforced my determination. There was no room for failure now. Not that there had been to begin with, but now, it really was do or die.

"We need to move." I said, addressing them both. "We scope out the exterior of the base tonight. Tomorrow we decide how we're gonna break in."

They both nodded, Usagi sitting up straight again, his warrior's mask slowly settling back into place at the talk of action.

"We need to find out just what exactly Bishop is pulling and how to stop it. But most importantly we need to rescue Jotaro. If what Donny is thinking is true;" I turned to look at him. "And I've never known him to be wrong just yet, then the stakes have been risen. However whether it's true or not, we can't lose focus. We are putting a stop to Bishop's plans, and we're not leaving that building until we do. But more importantly, we are _not_ leaving that place until we rescue Jotaro. All this extra stuff is just added trouble to the main mission. And that mission is still this; Rescue Usagi's son." I clenched my hands into fists. "We are not coming home empty handed. Not again."

**Xxxxx**

_._


	25. Recon

_I Don't own TMNT or UY._

_I haven't finished Chapter 27 yet but seeing as I'm writing it as we speak I thought it was ok to upload this one. Tehe 8D  
_

**Xxxxx**

I used my staff to pole-vault across the gap between the buildings before I broke into a run again, trying to keep up with my brothers and Usagi. We were running along the rooftops, heading in the direction of Liberty State Park with the waterfront to our left. Usagi and Leo were in the lead once again followed closely by Raph. Mikey was more or less keeping pace with me.

After I had given Leo and Usagi my theory on what I thought Bishop might be up to, Leo had more or less dragged me to my room and ordered me to get some sleep. I felt humiliated but he insisted, saying that if we were going to scope out the base that very night then he wanted me to be in proper condition. Especially since, if all goes well tonight, he wanted to try and infiltrate the base tomorrow evening. I couldn't argue with that kind of logic so I did as I was told and got some sleep.

I just know I'm gonna have trouble sleeping tonight though. I've completely broken my rhythm and with the building anxiety of the mission that was coming, I knew I was gonna have a bad case of insomnia tonight. I made a mental note to take a sleeping pill before going to bed. I couldn't afford to be drowsy when we move in. They were gonna need me to hack into Bishop's computer and give them proper answers once we got inside. Answers to what Bishop's up to, where Jotaro is being kept and how to move around the base without getting caught. Not that the pressure is helping my chances of getting some sleep.

That was all in the future though, maybe not the very far off future but the future nonetheless. Right now I needed to focus on what this place looked like and what kind of entrance we could use. Seeing as it was next to the waterfront I had a hunch there would be some kind of underwater entrance, like the base Bishop had been using the first time we met him during the Triceratron invasion. But I didn't want to be presumptuous. Presumptions had led to our last failure, and I was cautious about guessing and speculate without having the proper facts. It was for this reason I had been wary of telling Leo that there was a chance Bishop might be trying to construct a larger portal of some kind. If it turned out I was wrong then I would've upset him and Usagi for nothing.

But I had checked again and again, making sure there was no other possibility before I had voiced my concerns to my eldest brother and his friend. Even if I wasn't sure, it made too much sense to ignore it all. Kidnapping a child from another dimension, taking.. ..samples to further something called, rather uncreatively, 'Project Gateway', a man who could portal jump himself already but was reporting to Bishop as well as a mysterious third person involved in all this, it all pointed to something sinister. But to add to all this, I had read over the minutes taken at various meetings in which this 'Tibalt' had been present. Although a large portion of them were cryptic and meant nothing to me unless I knew what they were talking about to begin with, words had kept surfacing in their discussions. Things like, 'temporal jump' and 'time and space' and of course, 'how is the construction of the gate going?'. It just fit together too well. I was convinced that Bishop was trying to engineer some kind of inter-dimensional doorway. What exactly he plans to do with it is beyond me.

Usagi had automatically assumed Bishop was going to try invade 2nd Earth, his home dimension, and to be honest I understood his logic. It was 2nd Earth which Tibalt had warped to to steal Jotaro and, if what I read was correct, it's Jotaro they're using to somehow further the project. However if Bishop had a portal he could travel anywhere he wanted to. Not merely between dimensions but also to anywhere in our own dimension's space to other planets and worlds. The mere magnitude of things he could do with such a machine were frightening.

But then even if Bishop didn't plan to use the gate himself and was merely manufacturing it for this other guy it didn't ease any of my concerns. If anything it made them worse. There was absolutely zero information on this benefactor apart from the facts that he was funding the project, and Tibalt was acting as Middle-man between whoever it was and Bishop. From what I had been able to make out, Bishop had never spoken to him and in some meetings it even seemed to suggest Bishop himself wasn't sure of who the person behind Tibalt was. However, typical Bishop, he didn't seem concerned as long as it didn't interfere with the project and didn't restrict him too harshly from what he wanted to do.

I felt a pang of sadness at the thought of Bishop operating without restrictions while Jotaro was still in his clutches. I hadn't told any-one, but I'd extracted the photo of the boy attached to his specimen file and had it permanently open behind the other windows of my computer; so that every time I felt overwhelmed or at a loss I would open it and take a good, long look at the defiant, rebellious brown eyes staring hard at whoever had taken the photo. He looked so very young. He was alone and lost among people he didn't only not know, but who were also a species he'd never seen before. And yet when they had stood him against the size chart to take his mugshot he still had the guts to glare at them angrily. Not showing any trace of being afraid. Every time I saw this I felt my determination recharged and I could dive right back into my work, hoping against logic and reality that when we find him he'd still have that expression on his face.

I adjusted the strap of my duffle-bag before I made another jump between two of the buildings. I looked around the area as I ran, referring to my mental map of where the second base was located according to the files I'd stolen. Every now and then Leo would slow and turn to me. When he did I would indicate to him with a hand which direction to go in and we would continue.

It wasn't that long before we reached the address that matched the map back at the lair and we stopped, looking around. Nothing suggested it was any different to the other neighbourhoods and buildings we'd passed getting here. The water from the Upper New York Bay stretched out on our left sides, the high buildings and skyscrapers of Manhattan on the other side of it. Liberty State Park was still ahead of us, but not too far off, it was within easy walking distance. The buildings around this area where really nothing extra special. Just normal buildings in a normal part of town. The building we were looking at specifically was the one that matched the location of Bishop's 2nd base.

It looked even less suspicious than the last base had. Just a few storeys tall, painted a drab ochre with dull, boring windows with dirty glass in them. Through these I could just make out desks laden with mounds of paper and tired, middle-aged looking men sipping from mugs as they typed on computer keyboards in a way that clearly said they weren't getting paid enough to do this. The window-sills had long streaks running down from them against the building's walls from pigeons that no-one had bothered to chase away. The fire-escape along the side of it was still mostly black, but the reddish brown of rust was starting to take its toll. I doubted that it was still safe to use. The building had a very modest parking lot with only a handful of cars actually parked in it.

I turned my attention to the street leading to it. It was small and narrow, not a main-road and not used as often as the highways or main streets of the city. I quickly noticed something that probably would've meant nothing to normal people, but was a dead give-away this was the place we were looking for. The street leading to the building, all the way from next to the waterfront up to its doorstep, didn't have one single manhole on it. Not even drains cut into the sidewalk. I couldn't see any circular lids in the parking lot either, or the surrounding alleys. I frowned, turning and trotting to the other edge of the roof we were standing on, checking the narrow alley between it and the neighbouring structure. No sign of any sewers here either.

"What's up Don?" Leo asked, coming closer and leaning down to peer into the alley as well with a curious frown.

I turned to look at him, "There's no sign of any sewers being under that place."

I got up and trotted back to the side facing the depressing looking building, half-turned to look at Leo as he followed.

"No Manholes, no drains, nothing!" I crouched down on the edge of the roof, peering at the ochre structure in front of us. I half saw Raph crouch down next to me as well, frowning deeply to himself as he tried to see what I saw. Usagi came closer and did the same on my other side.

"There's no sign of any sewer system being under this whole block." I said, turning to see if they were following me.

Leo made a thoughtful noise, standing next to Usagi as he put a hand to his chin, frowning at the building across from us in the slowly dimming light.

"Which means," He said after a short pause. "That there's probably something _else_ taking up that space."

I nodded, glad to see he understood what I was getting at. "This is definitely the place we're looking for."

"Yeah." Raph grunted with an an amused smirk. "No way a place lookin' _that_ normal ain't hidin' somethin'."

I nodded again, turning to look at him.

He was staring hard at the building, his brows furrowed in a frown as he tried to take note of every tiny detail. There was a band-aid stuck rather comically on one of his cheeks. Somehow the effect it gave off was to make him look younger than he was. Other than that his lip still bore a cut from his fight with Mikey yesterday and he had a bruise along the top of his snout. But it was nothing serious and all it accomplished was to make him look like a high-school kid who took his soccer a little too seriously. Mikey hadn't done much damage to him. At least not physically.

I hadn't seen much of Raph after the initial fight happened apart from at dinner. He'd kept to himself the rest of the day. This morning he'd stumbled out of his room and joined us for breakfast but didn't say very much. However by the time it started becoming noon he got more vocal, saying how he was anxious to get outside and do something physical instead of sitting around. He seemed to quickly slip back into his regular behaviour after that and by now was acting more or less normal again. The only hint that something was still not right was the fact that when Mikey was in the room Raph acted, well, a little odd. He'd suddenly go quiet, keeping his eyes on our little brother with an expression I couldn't quite place. It looked something between hopeful, nervous and pleading. He wasn't being obvious about it, and I'm pretty sure he was trying to hide it with his usual tough guy routine, but I could see he really wanted to talk to Mikey and put the fight behind them, even if he wasn't daring to say anything.

Mikey would have none of it though and flat out ignored him when he was in the room, getting what he came looking for and leaving without a word or sitting himself down and focusing on something else like the TV or a comic book. He was acting as if Raph didn't even exist. It didn't take a psychiatrist to see this was really bothering Raphael but he didn't do anything to try and force Mikey into a conversation.

I felt bad for Raph, but I was hoping this was just Mikey sulking about whatever Raph had said or done to anger him yesterday. I knew Mikey better than to be scared he was gonna keep it up.

I shook my head lightly, realising I had once again slipped into my own dreamworld when I should be focusing. I turned back to the building.

"Any signs of an entrance?" Leo asked, leaning forward to look at me.

I frowned, looking over the area again.

"This place doesn't have an air-vent like the last one did, and I don't see any rooftop entrance. I mean there's the fire-escape but that'll just take us to a window and we'd probably need a tetnus shot just from touching that thing." I scanned the building over again. "The floors all seem to be in use so there doesn't seem to be a chance of breaking a window and not setting off an alarm of some kind."

I unslung my bag from my shoulders and zipped it open, digging around inside till I found my turtle-vision goggles and put them on, inputting some commands into it. "The windows all appear locked from the inside, I don't see any that are open for ventilation or anything like that."

I adjusted the goggles again, turning my gaze to ground-level. "No sign of any hidden shafts or holes we could slip through either."

"A formidable fortress." Usagi commented, pulling a face.

I remove my goggles. "Yeah, but there's gotta be another entrance besides the front door through which they can transport their less public projects."

I stood up again, this time turning to look in the direction of the Bay. "Hmm."

"You thinking underwater entrance?" Raph said, getting up as well, following my gaze.

I gave a nod. "It would make sense." I waved my hand at the waterfront. "With submersibles Bishop can carry and transport creatures, machinery, weapons, anything he wanted in and out of the base without being spotted. But I wanna be sure."

"We breaking out the yellow submarine?" Mikey asked, coming closer himself, purposefully standing on the side of me opposite from Raph.

I shook my head. "No, the shell-sub's too risky. We don't know where the entrance is yet and I don't want them spotting us before we find it. No, best to free-dive and have a look around first."

"Yes, but some of us are not as aquatic as others." Usagi spoke up, turning to give me a sideways glance.

I turned and gave him an apologetic smile. "Sorry."

"I can hold my breath the longest." Raph interrupted. "I'll go check it out unless some-one else feels like gettin' wet."

"I dunno." Leo said, turning to look back at the building.

Raph grumbled and crossed his arms. "Oh come on Leo, don' chicken out now! I'll be fine."

Leo made a small noise, thinking it over. He then nodded. "Alright. But you're not doing it alone. I'll act as back-up. Don. You, Mikey and Usagi wait for us on the banks and keep a sharp lookout. If we take longer than an hour don't come looking for us. Head back for the lair and wait there."

"And if you still do not return after that?" Usagi asked, a little too bluntly for my liking.

Leo turned to look at him. "...Then... do what you you think is best."

Usagi's face twitched but he gave nod. It was clear he was unhappy with this answer. I gotta say, I agreed with him

----

We waited on the banks of the waterfront for Leo and Raph to get back. I was sitting on my haunches, peering out over the black expanse of the water. It was properly dark by now, and the tall buildings on the other side of the bay cast long, dark shadows on the its surface, broken into pieces by the millions of small gleaming windows, street-lamps and various other lights reflecting the city back at itself. The night air was cool and clear. There was a light breeze but other than that it felt calm. It had an almost lulling effect. However that could just be due to the fact that the crisp air was cooling my blood, causing me to feel almost as if I was being sedated. I gave my head a hard shake, trying to wake myself up.

I turned to look at Usagi, wanting to start a conversation to keep myself active. However I noticed he had wandered off slightly and was keeping his eyes firmly fixed on the water. Every now and then I saw him turn to face the dark buildings behind us, making sure nothing was sneaking up on us from behind. When he was sure we were still safe he'd turn back to the water. If I looked very hard I noticed he'd sometimes stand stock still and I'd see him twitch an ear slightly, listening.

I sighed slightly and turned the other way to look at Mikey instead. He was sitting next to me, staring at the scenery as well. His feet were dangling over the edge of the bank, just short of touching the water. He was swinging his legs very slightly and seemed lost in thought. It was a strange expression to see on Mikey's face, but not overly so. Mikey's 'I'm thinking' face is still very much his own. He tended to frown lightly to himself and pull a slight pout when he was running something through his brain.

I couldn't help but smile to myself.

"Still ok Mikey?" I asked.

He blinked, shaken from his thoughts before he turned to look at me. He nodded. "Yeah."

I smiled at him warmly before I turned back to the water, wrapping my arms around myself with a slight shudder. "Good. Because I'm freezing my tail off here."

He tilted his head at me slightly before turning to look back at the bay. "It is kinda cold huh?"

I gave a nod, rubbing my arms.

We said nothing for a few moments, watching the surface for any signs of Leo and Raph coming back.

"...How long's it been?" Mikey asked.

I unfolded my arms and pulled down a wrist strap, checking my watch.

"They've still got 15 minutes." I said, replacing the strap before crossing my arms again.

Mikey pulled a slight face and gave a bit of a whine. I had to stop myself from grinning at this. I hadn't heard whiny Mikey for a while now. Usually it annoyed me, but for some reason hearing it now amused me slightly. However there was a small feeling of sadness to the emotion.

"D'you think they're ok?" He asked, turning back to look at me.

I nodded. "Sure they are. Don't worry so much."

Mikey made a noise but nodded, turning to the front again. He drew up his legs and rested his arms on his knees with a sigh.

I watched him for a few moments. "Why? D'you think something might've happened?"

He shook his head hurriedly, turning back to me. "Nu uh." He exhaled, looking away. "This place just gives me the creeps."

I said nothing for a few moments, staring at him. "Because of Tibalt?" I asked very cautiously.

Mikey pulled a face at the name and turned to the front again, saying nothing.

I kept quiet for a few moments before I shook my head and looked ahead again myself. "Nevermind. Forget I asked ok?"

I saw him nod out of the corner of my eye.

Inwardly I sighed sadly to myself. I hadn't expected Mikey to respond to the question, but I had still hoped he would've let me in, if just a little bit. It wasn't to satisfy my own curiosity or to make me feel more at ease or anything, I just wanted him to break out of this continuous slump he was in. It wasn't good for him, and I was afraid it would start taking its toll on him physically as well as mentally. I had no idea what the cause was apart from that it had something to do with Tibalt. But I was hoping that, if tomorrow's mission goes well, he'd be cured of his depression and move past it. To be honest if that doesn't do it, then I seriously don't know what will. I felt my pulse speed up by a fraction at the thought. It was strange, but I'm finding myself anxious for tomorrow's big mission because of this. I had a childish fantasy in my head of how we were gonna break in and rescue Jotaro before we destroy Bishop's evil plans. And that once we've done so we'll arrive home victorious, and Jotaro and Usagi will be reunited and safe and Mikey will be happy and we'll all be one big family again. The truth is we would be lucky if we achieve only half of these things. But please. At least let Mikey start to feel better.

"How long do they have now?" He asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

I checked my watch again. "five minutes less than the last time you asked." I said

Mikey gave a slight groan at this, getting his leg into a restless twitch.

"They'll be fine Mikey." I said, dangling my feet over the side of the bank the same as he had done.

Mikey nodded but he didn't look fully convinced.

I blinked at him before I spoke again. "Don't worry, we're leaving soon."

He whined again. "Yeah but.. I don't wanna leave without them."

I nodded in understanding. "They'll be back in time. You'll see."

"Yeah." He nodded again, dropping his gaze.

I sighed, turning my head to see where Usagi was.

The samurai had sat down not too far off, staring intently out over the water, his arms folded and his legs crossed, I could see his ears twitch every now and then. I frowned lightly, a little confused as to why he didn't sit closer to us. I wasn't sure whether to take offence or not. I shook it off though and turned back to the front. He probably heard me and Mikey were talking and didn't want to interrupt or something. After all he was perfectly aware that Mikey had a problem he wasn't talking about. Maybe he figured if we were talking he didn't want to interrupt. I gave a slight sigh. Too bad there was nothing to interrupt.

"....He likes messing with people." Mikey said suddenly.

I frowned, heavily confused as I turned to him. "Huh?"

Mikey wasn't looking at me, staring ahead of himself, his arms crossed over the top of his knees and his chin resting on them.

"....He finds something he knows will bug ya and then he messes with you." He said quietly.

I gaped at him. I quickly hid my surprise with a very slight head shake, not taking my eyes off of him.

"Is that what he did to you?" I asked, almost afraid to do so.

Mikey didn't move for a few moments, as if he didn't hear me. He then gave a soft nod. "Yeah."

I swallowed dryly. "What did he say?" I asked carefully.

Again Mikey said nothing. He didn't move but I saw his eyes narrow painfully by just a small fraction, I also heard the very small breath he drew in.

I dropped my shoulders, keeping my eyes on him caringly. "It's ok Mikey. You don't have to tell me."

He still didn't say anything but I saw him relax and I heard him breathe out.

I put a hand on his shoulder gently. I was half surprised when he responded by leaning against me a little more, looking for comfort. I couldn't help but smile at his childish behaviour and gave him a squeeze.

I heard movement and turned to look in Usagi's direction.

He'd gotten to his feet and was walking towards us, but he was keeping his eyes on the bay.

"I hear the ripple of water." He said once he was close enough to do so and not raise his voice. "Some-one approaches."

I let Mikey go and got to my feet, drawing my Bo staff just in case. Mikey followed suit, putting his hands on his nun-chucks but he didn't pull them free just yet, waiting to see what it was. Something broke the surface nearby and I heard Leo's voice take a breath. Raph was close behind. I sighed in relief and replaced my staff behind my back. I was aware of both Mikey and Usagi relaxing as well. We waited till Leo and Raph came closer before we leant down and helped them out the water. Raph grumbled with a shudder, rubbing his arms.

"Everything ok here?" Leo asked, reaching back and rinsing out his bandanna tails.

Usagi nodded. "No sign of any-one being aware of our presence. But tell us, what have you found?"

Raph gave a wicked cackled, grinning widely at us. "We got us a back door folks!"

I felt myself smile widely, turning to Leo. "Are you sure?"

Leo smiled back and nodded. "They've got an underwater entrance a little to the south of here. We didn't go in but it doesn't seem too heavily guarded. What's even better is there appears to be more than one way to get inside. Apart from an entranceway for subs there's also some smaller tunnels that appear to be used as a drainage system of some kind."

I nodded happily. "That's great! So, We should be able to get inside ok?"

"Provided ya do your stuff right Don." Raph said, turning to me with a toothy smile.

"Wait a moment." Usagi interrupted, still frowning worriedly. He didn't seem any more relieved by the news.

Leo turned to him with concern. "What's wrong Usagi?"

"This entrance is underwater; correct?" He asked, his frown staying. He wasn't annoyed with us though, he just seemed concerned about something.

Leo nodded. "Yeah. So what?"

Usagi made a slight noise. "So how are we to enter this fortress unnoticed? Or for that matter, how are we to leave once we have rescued Jotaro-kun?"

This time Leo Frowned. "I don't understand. That's why we were looking for the entrance in the first place Usagi-san; to find a way inside."

Usagi nodded impatiently. "Yes, but you have failed to take into account that I can not swim as swiftly as you and your brothers. Nor am I able to hold my breath for as long. Also, I am clothed and will be weighed down easily. To add to this, Jotaru-kun can most certainly not swim that great a distance or hold his breath for that long a period of time. Also we..." He hesitated before carrying on. "..We do not know what sort of condition Jotaro-kun will be in when we find him."

Leo listened patiently. Once Usagi finished he gave him a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry Usagi. We won't need to hold our breaths or swim very far. We'll use the Shell-sub to get as close as we can before we get in the water ourselves." He said kindly.

Usagi blinked at him for a moment before he frowned, but he wasn't angry. At the most he looked slightly annoyed. There was something almost light-hearted to it.

"Leonardo, you are purposefully using words you know I do not understand." He said pulling a slight face at my brother.

Leo's smile perked very slightly. "Let's get home and I'll show you instead. It'll be a lot easier than trying to explain it."

He turned, motioning for us to follow and our group started to make its way back home.

"What exactly is this... what did you call it? A 'Shell-something'?" Usagi asked, turning to me instead.

I chuckled lightly. "Basically, it's a boat that travels underwater."

"..... That is the worst logic I have ever heard." Usagi replied.

Behind me, I heard Raph laugh.

**Xxxxx**

_._


	26. PreMission Jitters

_I don't own TMNT or UY._

_Kekeke! Another update before I've even started Chapter 28! It seems I am now getting so anxious to update I'm merely uploading one chapter ahead of what I write! Besides, Chapter 27 was very long. I don't think any-one will mind. I promise after this things pick up again. I'm kinda getting the feeling people are losing interest, but it's probably just paranoia.  
_

**Xxxxx**

I was feeling pretty damn good about myself that night when I went to bed. Sure the water had been friggen freezing, but actually finding a way into Bishop's base more than made up for getting a little wet. Besides it didn't take very long for me to warm up and dry off on the run home. Leo had led the way with Usagi, for once, slowing down to keep pace with him. Of course, being cold himself Leo was running pretty fast anyway. I just can't help but face a challenge when I see one, especially if it means trying to best Leo, so being in a good mood I sped up, trying to pass him. He quickly realised what I was doing and quickened his pace. We ended up sprinting home, trying to beat each other and get there first. Donny had complained, saying it wasn't fair for us to start a race when he still had his bag which slowed him down. I called him a sore loser and ran anyway. Mikey didn't join in though, keeping up with Donny instead. I was a little bothered by this but I pushed it aside. If he didn't wanna play he didn't wanna play.

Besides, in the end Usagi won the race anyway, no surprise. Damn long legs of his.

We were in pretty high spirits that night. Maybe we were just starting to crack under the constant pressure or something, but whatever the reason was it felt good to actually be optimistic for once about this whole mess and not feel like we were counting the days till doomsday or something like that. Finding an entrance to Bishop's base wasn't really that big of an accomplishment. I knew that. At most it just meant we weren't completely stuck in a corner and we could keep going just as we had been doing till now. But on the other hand, with all our bad luck lately getting a break felt real good. You gotta take your victories where you can find them. No matter how small.

I was worried I wouldn't sleep that night. I was feeling so pumped and hyped up on adrenaline, thinking about everything that would and could happen tomorrow night. Also, I was kinda annoyed that Mikey wasn't talking to me. I wasn't annoyed with _him_ exactly. I just felt kinda irritated 'cause I was hating this cold shoulder he was giving me and I had no idea how to get on his good side again. I mean I know Mikey ain't the kind of guy to hold a grudge. He never was and I honestly can't picture him as the sort of guy who'd start to do that now. I was hoping he'd ease up on me soon. I mean heck, I got feelings too ya know! But hey, I can't do anything about it. Best just to give him space and hopefully he'll stop being angry and start talking to me again soon. Besides, I didn't wanna make him mad again.

As I said; way too much on my mind. However for some reason I found myself falling asleep pretty easily. Must've been the cold water or something. Or maybe I'd tired myself out during the run. Who knows. I didn't bother trying to figure it out. I just slept.

When I woke up the next morning I was kinda jolted to see I'd overlsept. It was almost 9 before I swung out my hammock, tied on my mask and pulled on my gear. I stumbled out my room, ready to pound any-one who tried to make a wisecrack about me sleeping in. But I didn't need to. Usagi and Leo were already awake but Donny and Mikey were still sleeping themselves. I was kinda confused 'till Master Splinter explained that he felt we needed the extra rest before we pulled the epic of a bonehead move we were planning. Ok so maybe that's not how he said it exactly.

Mikey was up next and after a while Donny got up too. Don was annoyed with us for letting him sleep in for as long as we did, but Leo told him that that's what he got for pulling too many late nights in a row.

As the day went by the tension in the lair slowly grew. We spent most of our time going over last details, refreshing ourselves with what we already knew as well as Donny's theories and thoughts on what we might find inside. We checked our weapons, making sure they were all in order, Donny stocked his bag, we made sure we had a full supply of shurikens, that our Shell-cells' batteries were all charged and Usagi gave some attention to his Daisho. Of course, Leo decided to copy him and sharpen his own katana. I was kinda half hoping Usagi would lecture him on how to do it properly but sadly the rabbit was too polite for that and let Leo do it his own way. Too bad. I would've liked to see Leo get a taste of his own medicine for once.

Morning became afternoon, and soon it was getting closer to evening. Master Splinter insisted we eat something before we go out, saying it wouldn't help any-one if our blood sugar dropped while we were trying to be active and on edge. I was so tense by this time I didn't think I would be able to hold anything down, but I didn't wanna tell him that. I'd probably get a tap with his cane if I did.

No-one seemed to want to cook anything though, not even Mikey which was kinda freaky. I'm not superstitious at all but I hoped it wasn't a bad sign. Anyway, with no-one being in the mood to make proper food we settled for take-out again.

Last time we'd ordered Pizza but Usagi had said, in his own overly polite samurai crap way, that he didn't like it. We decided to go for Chinese instead. Or rather what New Yorkers call 'Chinese food'. A better name for it would be 'Non-Specifically Asian Food'. There was no way some of the stuff on their menu was Chinese. I knew for a fact that some of the food they offered was, without a doubt, Japanese. The fact that most of the people working at our favourite joint were Korean didn't help either.

Anyway, we went through the menu and picked what we wanted, writing it down and pushing the list in Mikey's hands to make the phone call. We made sure to warn Usagi he was probably gonna hate the food, letting him know if he's expecting 'Sushi like Ma use to make it' he was in for some bad luck. He said he didn't mind but I wasn't sure how honest he was being or if he was just didn't wanna be rude.

When the perimeter alarm went off Leo went upstairs to fetch the food. We'd long ago made it a habit to only order from one Pizza place and one Chinese take-out place. Not because they were any better than any-one else or had better prices or anything, but because it was a lot easier to train the delivery boys on how we do things. We place the order, they show up at the doorstep where we'd leave them their cash, they take it and leave. No questions, no waiting to see who answers the door, nothing. It's tricky at first but after we'd done so for a few weeks the take-out places would catch on and just co-operate. Hell they better with the size of the tip we give them!

We waited in the Main room for Leo to get back. Usagi was sitting on the couch, his legs crossed and his arms folded. He had his eyes closed, like he was meditating or something. I left him alone. Whatever the guy has to do to prepare himself he'd better do it. Donny was sitting on the floor next to me, his duffle-bag on his lap as he checked and double checked the things inside it. Mikey was sitting sideways on the armchair, his legs dangling over the arm-rest as he waited impatiently for the food. Master Splinter was sitting on the couch next to Usagi, his hands hidden in his sleeves as he watched Don quietly.

We heard the service elevator come down and Leo stepped out of it, carrying two plastic bags. The smell of sweet and sour sauce, fried rice and what I hoped was fried pork came with him. We all looked up eagerly as he came over, placing the bags on the coffee table and opening them, digging around inside.

"Ok." He said, almost business like. "Who had the Honey and Garlic chicken with Steamed Vegetables?"

"Over here please." Donny said, pushing the duffle-bag out of his lap and crawling over before sitting again, holding out his hands. Leo passed him his paper box before going back into the packet.

"Black Mushroom Tofu. That's yours right Sensei?" He handed him the box. "Chicken with Snow peas. That's mine, and... what's this?"

He pulled something out of the plastic bag, frowning at it.

"I think they messed up our order." He turned to Master Splinter, holding out the bottle.

"Oh! No that is mine." Usagi said, uncrossing his legs and holding his hands out for it.

Leo blinked at him, handing it over. "What is it exactly?"

Usagi took it before giving Leo a very wide grin. "_Nihonshu_!"

Donny almost choked on his piece of broccoli.

"Sake?!" Leo said, boggling at him.

Usagi laughed at his expression. "Do not look so shocked!" He relaxed and smiled warmly. "I thought we could perhaps toast to a successful mission and that good fortune be with us tonight."

Leo blinked at him. I saw him turn to look at Master Splinter quizzically, clearly unsure of what to do; Either insult Usagi or have Sensei disapprove.

I gritted my teeth slightly and suppressed a growl at this, getting up and coming over to the rabbit.

"I'll drink with ya cotton-tail!" I said, putting on a wide-smile. "That is if choir boy over there don't mind too much."

Leo glowered at me darkly.

I glared back at him slightly, but before any more came of it Master Splinter gave a chuckle.

"Leonardo, go and fetch us some cups." he said, turning his eyes to my bro with a smile.

Leo looked kinda uneasy but nodded with a 'yes Sensei' and went to the kitchen.

Usagi blinked, watching him go with a slightly worried expression. "Does Leonardo not approve?"

Donny smiled and shook his head. "It's not that. It's just there's something called 'Underaged Drinking' in our dimension."

"Not that it has ever stopped any-one." I heard Master Splinter grumble, shooting me a glance.

I pretended not to see it.

Usagi however smiled. "I am not sure what that means, but as long as I have not offended him."

"Nah." Mikey said, climbing off the arm-chair to come closer. "Besides it's like one bottle. We're not _that_ light-weighted."

I turned to him, giving a grin in agreement but he ignored me.

Leo came back carrying some cups and we each took one. I noticed him give Mikey a sideways look. Mikey had been the one to order the food, but whether he'd actually been in on this was any-one's guess. Secretly I kinda hoped he had been. We could do with a little Mikey mischief.

"Cheers!" I said before knocking back my cup.

"_Kampai_." Usagi echoed. "Oh, and before I forget;"

I felt a sudden, sharp tug on one of my Bandanna tails. I jumped so bad I nearly dropped the small cup I was holding.

"_What the-?!_" I spun around to glare at him.

"_That_ is for calling me 'cotton-tail'" He said calmly before he took an overly dignified sip from his own drink.

---

The alcohol didn't last very long between the 6 of us. Yeah, Sensei had a shot himself which amused the hell out of me. The drink felt warm in my gut as I gulped down my Beef Teriyaki, suddenly feeling hungry.

We had a good supper, and I ain't talking about the food. Donny had tried to explain to Usagi the concept behind a submarine with no success. The rabbit just seemed unable to imagine a boat that travelled underwater and didn't drown you. Watching Donny try and come up with different ways to sell the idea only to have Usagi go from confused to nervous to outright horrified was one of the most entertaining things I'd seen all year! Donny got more and more frustrated until eventually he just gave up, telling Usagi to merely trust him that the thing works. Usagi smiled nervously but nodded, apologising for not knowing what the hell Donny was getting at. After that we merely jumped from topic to topic as we ate. I can't really remember exactly what we talked about but it wasn't that important. Just normal, every-day stuff. Before I knew it the food was gone.

Mikey dug around in the plastic bag until he found the fortune cookies. Maybe I was looking too deep into things, but when he found them he turned to me first, and tossed one over. First time in 2 days he'd openly said anything to me. Like I said it was probably nothing, but somehow it meant something to me anyway.

Evening came much too quickly.

We gathered up our gear and manned the shell-sub. Master Splinter saw us off, watching us go silently with his hands placed over his cane. I got in last, closing the hatch behind me and securing it before I took my seat in the dark, cramped sub, leaving the welcoming warmth of the lair outside.

**Xxxxx**

_._


	27. The Base

_I don't own TMNT or UY._

_Long chapter is long._

**Xxxxx**

Donny piloted the Shell-sub out of the base, through the connecting tunnel and out into the main river. I sat in the passenger's seat next to him, staying silent as we travelled the dark water towards where Raph and I had found the entrance to this large headquarters of Bishop's. I was tense. Somewhere, deep within me, I imagined the hundreds if not thousands of ways this could all go wrong. But I didn't focus on my worries, locking them up tight as I kept my mind sharp, focusing purely on what we needed to do.

I turned around in my seat to see what every-one else was up to. Usagi was standing close behind me, a hand resting on the back of my chair to steady himself as he peered out the front of the sub's windshield nervously. You didn't need to be a genius to see he didn't like this way of travelling at all. He said nothing though and didn't show any of his fears on his face more than a slightly worried frown, his gaze raised to where he knew the surface was even though we couldn't see it in the dark. Behind him I saw Raph sitting near the top hatch, his eyes on Usagi. When he saw I was watching him he looked away, obviously a little embarrassed at being caught watching over our friend. Next to him Mikey stood with his shell pressed against the wall of the sub, staring past me and Donny out the window with an apprehensive expression. He looked almost ill.

I turned in my seat properly so that I could address every-body.

"Alright. Now we're gonna do this just like the last time guys. Usagi and I will get Donny to a computer where he can tell us where to find Jotaro and not get ourselves caught. Raph and Mikey, you two enter through one of the side tunnels and see if you can find out where the Containment cells or the portal device are on your own. Remember we don't wanna tip them off that we're here any sooner than we need to, so try staying out of a fight if you can help it. Donny, once you've gotten into Bishop's system try and find where he's got Jotaro locked away, as soon as you know that find as much information on this 'Project Gateway' as you can. If it is what we think it is try find a weak point or a way to stop it or something. Once we know that, one of our groups is gonna have to get Jotaro while the other destroys however much they've completed of the portal device."

They all nodded.

"If I may make a request," Usagi spoke up. "If you do not mind Leonardo, I would prefer it if you and I are the ones to locate and liberate Jotaro-kun."

I nodded at him in understanding.

"No problem. Me and Mikey are good at breakin' stuff!" Raph spoke up, giving us a smirk.

Mikey gave a hesitant nod in agreement.

"Ok then." I said. "So Raph and Mikey try find the gate and make sure Bishop won't be able to use it, while Usagi and I try and find Jotaro. We stick to this unless, once Donny hacks into the system he finds Mikey and Raph to be closer to the containment cells. In that case, Raph, you and Mikey head that way and we'll focus on the gate." I turned to Usagi. "Is that ok?"

Usagi nodded.

"Once we reach the entrance, Raph and Mikey exit the sub and make for one of the side tunnels. After that, try and get us as far into that underwater entrance as you can without us being seen Don." I continued.

Donny gave a nod. "I dunno how far I can get us but I'll try."

I nodded again. "That's fine. Now remember guys, Just like last time. Keep it cool and quiet and focus on what we gotta do."

"Yeah, except lets leave out that cute little endin' we had." Raph commented, playing with the tip of a sai restlessly.

----

After an uneventful journey we reached the entrance to the base. It was lit only enough to be able to discern it from the rock and cement wall around it as it led from the open water of the bay to under the streets of the city. Once we got close Donny switched off the sub's lights and we made our approach as silently as we could. No subs of Bishop seemed to be using the entrance at the moment and it was deserted. We were in luck.

I could see the two twin tunnels on either side of the main entrance, barely visible and unlit. They were closed off with a grate to prevent unwanted visitors from getting inside, however, using the sub's claws, Donny managed to pry one of them open without too much noise. I was concerned that it would set off an alarm but Don said that, since it appeared to be used for waste disposal he doubted it would be closely watched.

Mikey and Raph each took one of the small oxygen masks meant to be used for emergencies and exited the sub via its second hatch. I noticed that Usagi's hand tightened drastically on the back of my seat when Raph opened the hatch. I half wanted to reassure him that the Sub would not flood and that it was designed for this, but I didn't want to call attention to his nervousness and insult him. Mikey and Raph put on the breathing masks and disappeared into the water.

I'd been unsure if it was the best idea to team Mikey and Raph together since they still seemed a little edgy around each other since their fight. However I noticed that Raph was, in his own way, trying to make an effort at setting things straight again, and Mikey was starting to act less coldly towards him. Knowing they were slowly getting back to being on better terms I thought maybe this could in some way help them sort out their issues. Also, Mikey and Raph just work well together during a mission. I knew they'd be ok.

We waited, keeping our eyes on them as they swam towards one of the now open tunnels and slipped inside. We stayed put for a few minutes, making sure everything was ok before Donny manoeuvred the sub back to the base entrance.

He flipped a few switches and pressed a few buttons on the sub's control panel, switching on his various detection equipment to make sure the way ahead was clear and that we could slip inside without being seen. The tunnel was well lit but not overly bright. Lights lined the walls on either side, casting a cold, blue light on the passage. Don kept the sub low, checking the perimeter readings to make sure we weren't gonna scrape the bottom, since we didn't want to switch on the headlights.

Before too long we could see the surface of the water ahead of us light up. Don lowered the sub and slowly brought it to a halt a short way off. He entered some commands, and the sub nestled itself into the rock-bed of the tunnel. There was no sand to hide itself in sadly. Donny set it to stealth mode, muting its engines and turning off all unnecessary power. It didn't render the machine invisible but if it stayed still and in the dark it could blend in with the surroundings pretty well. It's small size also helped to keep it from view.

I got up out of my seat. "Alright. Keep it cool and stay quiet. We don't know what kind of welcome we can expect when we break the surface."

They both nodded, Donny getting up from his seat as Usagi pulled on his kimono sleeves before tying them back. We didn't bother with the last two oxygen masks as it wasn't that far of a swim. Well, not far of a swim for me and Don. I turned to Usagi who was watching Donny as my little brother opened the hatch of the sub for us to exit out of. I walked over to my friend, reaching out and taking him by a wrist. He turned to blink at me, confused as I put his hand to the ridge of my shell.

"Hold this." I said.

He frowned for a moment before he understood what I was saying and gave me a nod.

Donny Slipped into the water, us following closely behind.

We made the swim without any-one opening fire into the water. Usagi's hand grasping my shell tightly as Donny lead the way.

We slipped behind a docked sub and broke the surface of the water as silently as we were able to. We stayed low in the water as I quickly took note of the immediate area. The concrete platform next to the dock was large and open. Various metallic shipping crates were piled along the back walls containing who knows what. There were at least 3 large hallways spanning from the cavern we were in. The roof was high above us, curving in, almost like a dome. A handful of subs, each of a different design were moored next to the large, stretching platform. The one we were hiding against was of a blackish purple colour and had a sleek, sport-like design. The one on the other side us looked more industrial than anything else.

I could see guards patrolling the dock. Not a large group of them but enough to raise the alarm if they spot us. We wouldn't be able to silence them all. I heard Donny moving next to me and turned to look at him. He gave me a look that basically said 'stay put' before he took a breath and slipped below the surface of the water. I stared at the spot where he'd disappeared for a few moments. Usagi was looking around the area, staying next to me and keeping his hand on the ridge of my shell to stay afloat. He wasn't dragging me down, but I was aware of the extra weight.

Donny reappeared, breaking the surface of the water again without a sound. I frowned at him questioningly. He lifted up a hand to revealed a pebble he'd retrieved from the rock-bed below us. He then turned to the platform. He raised an arm over his head, took aim, and flicked the rock across the platform where it hit one of the steel crates with a loud clang before tumbling out of sight between them.

The guards instantly turned towards the sound of the noise, pulling out their guns and running to inspect the spaces between the stacked crates. With their attention on the other side of the cavern we quickly pulled ourselves free from the water and made a run for the closest hallway. As we ran down it I kept glancing back, expecting at any minute for some-one to yell out and alert the others about us, but no-one saw us make the mad dash across the large room and into the passageway. Let's hope this luck holds up.

We slid down a side-passage as soon as we found one, not wanting to run around in a main hallway. So far we hadn't come across any-one else yet. I kept my eyes open for any sort of traps or security cameras that might spot us. Too many times had I forgotten to check for cameras in an area, only to have us found out much sooner than I would've liked. The side-passage was of the same curved design as the deeper hallways had been of the last base we infiltrated. The same circular lights lit the ceiling and the walkway was lit by the same sort of secondary light. Yet it felt slightly different. It must've had something to do with being so close to the water, but this base felt a lot colder than the last.

"_Matte!_" Usagi's hand shot out in front of me, bringing me to a halt. "Some-one is coming!"

I looked around hurriedly for a hiding place and spotted a door.

"This way!" I ran towards it, turning the handle and pushing it open with one hand, drawing a katana with the other.

The door opened to a small room with controls and monitors lined all along the walls apart from the doorway. The man who had been sitting at the lone chair, monitoring the different screens spun around to face me at my entry.

I charged him, striking out with the butt of my sword, delivering a hard blow to the man's head. He fell to the ground without a sound. Behind me Donny and Usagi hurriedly entered the room, closing the door behind them. Usagi pressed the side of his head to it, listening for the people he had heard coming down the passage. Donny came over towards me, running his eyes over the monitors and control panels.

"Anything useful?" I asked him as I removed the man I'd knocked out's tie to bind his wrists with.

Donny sighed and shook his head. "Not at all. This is all just monitoring equipment for the various computer systems and networks here in the base. There's no direct access to any of it though. It's just an observation deck so to speak."

I made a disappointed noise but nodded. "We keep moving then, as soon as the coast is clear."

I made sure I'd done the knot tight before I left the man and walked over to stand beside Usagi, half-leaning against the door myself.

"How's it looking?" I whispered urgently.

Usagi made a thoughtful noise. "There are two of them but they are passing us. They do not seem to be aware of our presence. They appear to be discussing something but I can not discern what they are saying."

I gave a nod. "That's ok. As long as they don't come in here, we're fine."

Usagi gave a nod as well. "They do not appear to be concerned with this room."

I straightened and turned to Donny to let him know we were moving again, only to see him bent over the control panel, frowning in concentration at one of the monitors as his hands moved across the keys.

"What are you doing?" I asked, coming closer. "I thought you said you couldn't use this stuff?"

"I can't." He said, not looking away from the screen. "But I can use this to track down where there's a computer I _can_ use."

I blinked, looking over his shoulder, but all I was able to see where flashing numbers and a jittery image of a layout graph.

"Are we moving?" Usagi asked, turning his head to look at us but not leaving his position.

"In a minute." I said, breaking my gaze from the monitor. "Donny's just getting his bearings."

Usagi nodded, turning to press himself against the door again, listening closely for any-one else that might be walking down the hall outside.

"Ok got it!" Donny said, straightening. "There's a small, private workstation not too far from here which should have access to the data files. I can't do anything security wise but I can at least get us some answers and get you guys going. After that I can try and hack into the larger mainframe and see if I can shut down some of the alarms and buy us some more time before we're found out."

I nodded. "Good job Don." I walked over to Usagi again, my brother following close behind me.

"Are we good to go?" I asked my friend.

He gave a nod. "I can not hear any-one entering the hallway from either side. We should be alright for a while."

I nodded again. "Ok then. Let's move." I gripped the door handle and we slipped out of our hiding place. I turned as we left to make sure the man I'd KOed was still out of commission before I closed the door behind us and we kept moving.

The private work station Donny had mentioned wasn't that far from where we had been but the going was slow. Every now and then we would need to hide ourselves in either a side room or we'd have to make a detour to avoid the scientists, engineers and armed guards that patrolled the place. It wasn't overly populated, which was good because if it had been we'd have been caught ages ago, but there were enough people moving between their various areas of work for it to be obvious that this place was very busy.

After a slightly aggravating journey we finally arrived at the door to the office or lab or whatever it is Donny was looking for. We put our heads to it and listened for any activity inside.

"There's some-one in there." I said

Usagi nodded in agreement. "Yes, but it can not be helped."

I nodded grimly, gripping the handle with my free hand before throwing open the door in one swift movement.

The door opened to an almost blindingly white room. After the darkly coloured hallway the sharp light came as shock to the system. The person who had been in the room turned out to be a man with your typical educated stature. He wore a white uniform and heavy glasses. He shot up from his chair when I threw the door open, staring at us in disbelief. I faltered slightly in the sudden brightness but Usagi did not. He shot past me, his short-sword in his hand as he threw it forward, twisted it and sent it curving in an arc. The man gave a loud, cut off noise and fell, going silent.

Usagi flicked his blade and turned, beckoning to us impatiently. "_Hayakusiro!" _

We entered and I closed the door behind us. I half-registered the fact that the door had a lock on it as I activated it, turning to look at Usagi.

"Was that really necessary?!" I said, maybe a little more harshly than I meant to.

Usagi replaced his blade before moving the slain man out of the way of the desk. "I apologise. I did not mean to sound so commanding."

I rolled my eyes irritably. "Not that! I don't care if you order us around, but did you need to kill him?"

He blinked at me, looking a little taken aback. He thought for a moment, then looked back at me. "What would you have done?"

I pulled a slight face, turning to look at the man. "I... I dunno." I gave a frustrated sigh. "Look just... don't do it if you can help it ok?"

Usagi frowned at me lightly with a soft noise. I hoped he wasn't thinking me childish. I didn't break my gaze from him, but I made sure not to glare. I wasn't angry at him, I just really didn't like settling for killing some-one if I can make another plan.

He sighed. "Although I find your logic questionable Leonardo, I will try and honour your wishes."

I relaxed slightly and nodded. "That's all I ask."

I turned my attention away from him and to Donny who had moved to take the scientists seat at the white desk, his hands already flying across the keyboard and his eyes glued to the projected screen in front of him. He seemed to be concentrating heavily on what he was doing, however whether he was doing so because he needed to or because he was trying to distract himself from the kill I wasn't sure.

While he tried to navigate around the system I took the time to look over the room properly.

The walls, floor and ceiling were all clinically white. It wasn't painted on, the very material the room was constructed from appeared to be this emotionless colour. Occupying most of one wall was a large, white desk of a modern looking design. A keyboard built into the top of it and a holographic screen hovering a few inches above it. The rest of the space on the desk held controls and switches although I had no idea what sort of function they could have. The already bright light was magnified by the featureless walls, making the room almost unbearably bright. It was giving me a headache. Apart from the work-desk, the rest of the room was filled with a large cupboard built into the wall on one side, as well as a second desk which was covered in piled papers, files and folders as well as various things like pens, staplers, blue pencils, a large ruler with a steel edge and other office equipment. There was a second chair pulled under it and I could see the wall it was set against was covered in bright yellow and pink post-it notes, the only real colour in the room. In the other corner of the room was a small, standing coffee machine and a white couch. I couldn't help but think that, if you painted the walls and dimmed the lights, then this would be exactly the kind of room Don could get very comfortable in.

I turned back to him to see if he'd gotten anywhere, but seeing that he was sitting with his chin on a hand, frowning deeply as he speed-read over a file he had open I sighed, turning to look at Usagi again.

I was a little jarred to see he had been watching me while I looked over the room with a thoughtful expression, frowning ever so slightly to himself.

I frowned back. "What?"

He shook his head at me. "Nothing."

I made a slight noise. "Not 'nothing'. What is it?"

He pulled a worried face at me and gave a slight breath. "I am merely trying to understand your reasoning behind not slaying the enemies we come across when it is clear to me that, if given the chance, they would most certainly not hesitate in slaying you."

My frown stayed as I gave a slight shrug. "I don't like killing people that's all. It's... it's not right."

Usagi blinked at me. "I see no wrong in it. There is no dishonour in falling in battle. It is merely a question if you are able to fulfil the objectives assigned to you. If you are not then you fall, and there is no dishonour in that, and if you are successful then you have the knowledge that those you have had to kill to achieve your goal hold no ill towards you, just as you would hold no ill against them."

I made an aggravated noise. "It doesn't work like that here."

"Why not?" Usagi asked, tilting his head at me slightly.

"It just doesn't!" I snapped. I didn't mean to, but I found it frustrating to try and explain something I thought was pretty straightforward.

Usagi stared at me for a moment before he sunk very slightly. "I am sorry. I meant no disrespect."

I sighed, putting a hand to my head. "No. No it's ok. Look, I'd love to discuss ethics with you but let's save it for after we get out of here ok? We don't need to get into an argument about it now."

He gave a nod, staring at me with an apologetic expression.

I felt kinda bad once I calmed down a little. To be honest Usagi wasn't exactly _wrong._ But it was just such a removed way of dealing with things when compared to 21st century thinking I had a hard time understanding it. Then again, he didn't understand why I don't like killing people who would, very obviously, kill me if they had the chance. To be honest I can't fully explain it myself. I just didn't like settling for simply killing some-one standing in my way if I could help it. Especially since often, I really _couldn't_ help it. But in a way that's what made it even more important to me to know the difference.

"Look." I said to him with a much calmer tone of voice. "I'm not judging you, and to be honest I can see where you're coming from." I gave a sideways smile and a slight shrug. "I just... don't like it."

He stared at me quietly before he gave a nod. "I understand." His expression became slightly concerned. "But just be aware of when you can take such a liberty Leonardo, lest it mean harm will come to you." He gave me a small smile. "I do not wish for that to happen."

I couldn't stop myself smiling back. "Fair enough."

"Guys over here!" Donny spoke up, lifting a hand and snapping his fingers at us to catch our attention.

I turned to him and came over quickly, Usagi copying me as we stood behind Don to look over his shoulder.

"What d'you find?" I asked, looking at the window he had open.

"More than enough." Donny said, turning to look at me. "First off all, Bishop is most definitely building a portal gate."

I pulled a slight face but nodded. "Ok. That's ok though. We already knew you were probably right about that. What else?"

He nodded and turned back to the screen. "Man. Where to start?"

"Start with Jotaro-kun." Usagi said, leaning forward anxiously.

Donny nodded. "Alright. Well first of all, I am happy to announce that there's no doubt that he's in this base."

Usagi and me both sunk in relief, but no sooner had we done so than Usagi straightened again.

"And where is he? Is he alright?" He asked eagerly.

Don nodded. "According to this he's fine. Condition normal, vital sign feedback normal, weight normal, electrolyte levels normal."

"Is he near here?" I asked, almost as anxiously as Usagi.

Donny clicked a few times before he sighed. "Actually, the containment cells are on the other side of the base from where we are. It'll be difficult to get there from here."

Usagi sunk slightly as he gave a disappointed breath.

I pulled out my shell-cell and opened it up, going through my phonebook to get to Raph.

"What about the Portal-Device?" I asked as I did so. "What's the situation like there?"

Donny clicked a few times again. When he found what he was looking for I heard him take a small, staggering breath. "Ut-oh."

"What?" I put down my phone, leaning closer again. "What is it?"

"Well," Donny said shakily. "According to this the Portal is very close to being completed." He turned to me, slightly wide-eyed. "And this update was filed yesterday."

"He has not used it yet has he?!" Usagi said, sounding alarmed.

Donny shook his head. "No, I don't think so. If he had there'd be some kind of record that they were gonna activate it today or something, but I don't see any kind of information like that."

Usagi exhale. "Thank the Gods."

"Can you find anything to tell us what Bishop plans to do with it Don? Or at least where it is from here?" I said, not wanting to get side-tracked.

Donny looked over the information again. "It's kinda hard since these records are all just fact and progress. There's nothing here that lists exactly what Bishop's _hoping_ to do or anything like. That's too much in the realm of speculation to be put down on paper. Bishop would keep that kind of thing for his personal log or whatever. No way I would be able to get access to that from here. However I can tell you what I can figure out at least. It seems I was right and the gate's been designed so that a large group of people can use it at once. It's rather big because of this, we're not just talking a small doorway, we're talking at least a 3 storey high ring here."

He paused for a few moments as he scrolled down the data on the screen. "It seems the reason behind it is because Bishop wants to use it as some kind of weapon against hostile beings. There's talk here about how they can't afford another mess like the Triceratron invasion. There's also mention here of 'The newly acquired information on inter-dimensional beings who might or might not pose a threat to Earth's protection'. It seems they want to use the Gate as a way to launch first strikes against worlds they see as potential threats. On top of this there's talk here for possibilities of trade with inter-dimensional civilizations for more advanced weaponry as well as technological support from worlds which may be more advanced than ours."

"But then how do we feature in all of this?" Usagi asked. "We are most definitely not able to provide any sort of technological advancement that this man would find beneficiary, nor do we have any kind of weaponry that he would deem useful. We have also never shown any hostility towards your dimension. If anything, apart from myself and Gen, no-one else is that aware of your existence. Why would he have targeted us?"

"For exactly those reasons." Donny said, reading things over on his screen. "Bishop needed a specimen from another dimension for analysis to understand the difference in our atomic vibrations." He turned to face us both, using his hands as he spoke. "You know how I told you how we're mostly made up of atoms? And how atoms are mostly made up of empty space and, how our atoms circulate and vibrate could, in theory, dictate in which plane of existence we live?"

Usagi made a frustrated noise. "Forgive me Donatello-san, but none of this makes any sense to me."

I pulled a slight face as well. "I'm sure I'd understand if you explained more slowly Don, but we really don't have time right now. Could you give us the summarized version?"

He looked almost disappointed but nodded. "To put it bluntly, things and people from other dimensions' physical being have a different energy to them." He turned to Usagi. "I guess, if I had to translate it, I'd call it an Aura."

Usagi nodded and made an understanding noise. "You could have just said that in the first place."

Donny gave a slight shrug. "It's not completely accurate but I guess it's pretty close to what I'm getting at. Anyway, Bishop needed a specimen from another dimension to study the difference so that he could apply that knowledge to his gate. Your dimension was chosen because it'd be easy to overpower some-one from 2nd Earth with our superior weapons. It was just bad luck that you had Jotaro with you when the portal opened. I guess they just figured a child would be an easy subject to control in captivity."

"Wait a minute." I interrupted. "How did Bishop know all this about 2nd Earth if he didn't have a portal to begin with? Where's he getting his information from?"

Donny looked over the info again. "It says here, that the person who gave him his info was Tibalt."

"And how did Tibalt know?" I asked.

Donny shook his head. "It doesn't say. It only says that Tibalt contacted Bishop, explaining how his boss had been able to find a way to create portals, but only ones big enough for one or two people to use at once. He wanted Bishop to develop a larger Portal Gate for him, telling him he could use the technology however he wanted once the project was done, but Tibalt's boss gets access to the larger portal for his own personal use. In return for Bishop's resources and man-power Tibalt's boss would give Bishop the rudimentary knowledge he had on inter-dimensional travel as well as fund the project himself. Other than how it works, there's no info on where Tibalt's boss got the knowledge from in the first place."

"So... He is not planning to invade my home?" Usagi asked hopefully, diverting the conversation away from Tibalt.

Donny made a noise. "Actually... That's the first place he's planning to go."

"What?! Why?!" I blurted out.

"It seems he wants to test how successful an invasion would be using this gate." He turned to look at us again. "And since he already knows 2nd Earth is not as advanced as we are, he sees Usagi's home as an easy target. He knows you don't pose much of a threat, and he's already gotten some knowledge on your people from what he's been able to find out from Jotaro."

Usagi gritted his teeth, grumbling something under his breath in Japanese, but I wasn't able to catch.

"Where is this Portal Donny?" I asked.

Don turned back to the screen once again and opened up a few files. "It's not exactly next door, but it's closer to us than the containment cells are."

I nodded as I picked up my phone again, opening it up and getting Raph's number again. "Ok. Then that's our target. I'll check where Raph and Mikey are and let them know that we're going for the portal and they should head for the containment cells."

Donny nodded in agreement. Usagi nodded as well, but I could see he was disappointed. He really wanted to be the one to break Jotaro out of his cell. I felt for him. It wasn't really fair, but if that's how it's gotta be then we don't have much of a choice.

I called Raph's number and waited for him to pick up.

The phone rang.

And rang.

I felt a frown slowly settle on my face.

I hung up and redialed, swallowing as I put the cell to my ear-spot again, waiting for a response.

Again, the phone rang endlessly, no-one picking up. Eventually the ringing stopped and there was a long tone before the phone hung itself up. I removed it from ear and stared at it. It wasn't suppose to do that. If no-one picked up it should've gone to voice mail.

"Donny." I said, accessing Mikey's number instead. "I can't get Raph on the shell-cell."

Don turned to me with a concerned frown. He pulled out his own phone and went through the menu himself before putting it to his ear.

I bit my lip, listening to the ring as I waited for Mikey to pick up. Again the phone went dead before hanging up.

I shook my head tightly and turned back to Donny.

He turned to me, looking a little pale as he shook his head back.

I felt a heavy lump fall into the pit of my stomach as my pulse sped up. I hurriedly tried Mikey's number a second time, pressing the buttons rather hard.

"What is the matter?" Usagi asked, looking back and forth between us.

"Raph and Mikey aren't answering their phones." Donny said, putting his own to his ear again.

"I'm not getting anything." I said, turning to look at the screen of my shell-cell shakily. They had to be ok! They just had to be!

"What about trying to contact each other?" Usagi asked, waving a hand back and forth between me and Donny. "Are you able to do that?"

Don turned to gape at him, shocked by the insight.

I stared at the samurai myself before turning to stare at the phone in my hand. I licked my lips nervously before I accessed Donny's number and entered it, turning to look at the phone he was holding in his own hands.

Don turned to give me a nervous glance before he turned to look at it too, expectingly.

I listened to the constant ringing before the same long tone came up and my phone hung itself up. Donny's phone hadn't so much as buzzed.

"A dead-zone." Donny said, turning to look at me as he breathed out in relief. "They've got a signal blocker in here."

I shook my head hard before looking at Usagi. "How the _heck_ did you figure that one out?!"

He gave a slight shrug and a small grin. "It just seemed a logical test to try. If you could not reach each other then it would stand to reason you would not be able to reach them either."

"I think we've just been techno-schooled. Samurai style." Donny said.

"Yeah but that gives us a new wrinkle." I said, not buying into the light-hearted relief. "It means we're completely out of touch with Raph and Mikey. And once Usagi and I leave here we won't be able to communicate with you either."

Donny immediately became more serious. "That's gonna be a problem."

I nodded. " a _Major_ problem."

**Xxxxx**

_D8_


	28. The Shooter

_I don't own TMNT or UY or The Who._

_Updating before I go to class when I should be getting ready 8D_

**Xxxxx**

The tunnel me and Mike had entered took a long time before it eventually opened up to what could only be described, with sickening irony, as some kind of sewer system. Talk about fancy. Bishop had his own damn private sewer system in this rat-maze! Somehow that just fits in with my whole idea of the man. Big, overly complicated and so damn arrogant.

It wasn't like our sewers though. These weren't large tunnels you could stand up and run around in. The tunnel we'd swam through to get here hadn't been very big, but it was ok since you don't exactly stand when you swim. But once the water level dropped to nothing but a few inches we've had to crawl on our hands and knees to get inside the building. I don't care if I grew up in the New York sewers or not; crawling around in filth is not my idea of a fun time. The first grate I find I'm opening and getting out of this muck.

Seems I wasn't the only one bothered by it either.

"How much longer till we can get outta this?" I heard Mikey whine behind me.

I couldn't turn around to look at him so I merely spoke to my front. "Keep your voice down ya goob! We get outta here when we get outta here!"

He made a complaining noise but said nothing else, following behind me closely.

'At least he's being annoying again.' I thought to myself, keeping eyes focused ahead of me for any traces of light or something.

The tunnel was dark, and wet. I could barely see anything in front of me apart from the vanishing point where the slightly dark blackness joined to form completely dark blackness. Now and then the side walls of the tunnel had drainage holes cut into them, allowing pipes from all over the base to empty everything they had into this drain. It made me nervous. It all emptied into the river which, despite the city's best efforts, is still being treated like New York's own personal dumping ground. You could pump anything you wanted into there and it'd just disappear cause there's so much filth in there already it just gets masked by it all. But it's not my non-existent inner-hippy who was worried. These pipes that led into our tunnel came from all over the base, and since it was all waste who knows what could be flooding into the shallow water we were crawling through. Biological waste, oil, chemicals, hell why not acid?! Any number of this shit could suddenly come gurgling out of a hole in the wall all over us.

I sped up my pace a little with a suppressed grumble.

"Hey woah! Not so fast!" Mikey complained behind me and I heard him speed up too.

"Relax Mike." I said irritably.

He made a noise. "Just... don't run away from me ok?"

I slowed, causing him to bump into me as I tried to turn towards him as best I could. "Does it look like there's anywhere for me ta go?! Jeez, what's gotten into ya?!"

There was a pause. I couldn't see his face so I had no idea what he was thinking in response.

"I don't..." He stuttered. "..I don't... like being here ok? This place gives me the creeps."

I groaned and started to move again. "That makes two of us. Just keep up."

"No." He said and I heard him follow after me. He sounded almost anxious. "No it's not just that."

"Then what is it?" I asked as I kept going. I tried to take some of the edge out of my voice, reminding myself that this was Mikey, who was still mad at me and had been shutting people out for days now, talking to me.

"It's just..." He hesitated. "It's just this whole thing was freaking me out to begin with ya know? Coming here I mean. I know we didn't have a choice and stuff, but I can't help feeling jumpy about it." He gave a nervous swallow. "And now we're crawling around in the dark."

I felt my face pull slightly at this. How do I respond to that? He was obviously feeling skittish about this whole thing, but what do I do? Last time I tried to be comforting it didn't exactly work very well. I gave my head a slight shake.

"Don't tell me you're scared of the dark Mikey!" I said teasingly, trying to pretend it was no big deal.

I heard him grumble. "That's not what I meant."

"Sounded like it to me." I said, grinning to myself.

"Yeah well I didn't." He said irritably, I could almost hear the pout.

"Yeah yeah, whatever." I said, rolling my eyes.

"No really! I didn't mean it like that." Mikey insisted. "It's just, I really don't wanna see that guy again Raphie! There's something freaky about him and.. I don't like it."

"Oh yeah?" I said, turning to try and face him again slightly. "Whadd'ya mean?"

Mikey hesitated. "It's... ..he just...."

I felt myself lurch forward as I put my hand forward again only to find no ground to plant it on.

"_Waoh!" _I tried to catch my balance as the soft but sudden wind hit my face, signalling the deep drop our tunnel had opened up to. I was half aware of dim light from above hitting my eyes, but my focus was kept on trying not to hurtle forward out of the passage and down into the sudden blackness.

"_Watch it!"_ I felt hands grab my belt and physically yank me backwards, away from the sudden drop and back into the dark tunnel.

I scrambled backwards, sending a slight spray of, let's just call it water, into the air.

I crawled as far back as I could before bumping into Mikey, blocking me from going further. I was breathing heavily, badly shaken.

"Dude. Eyes to the front." Mikey said, I could hear the slight tremble in his voice.

I swallowed and calmed my breathing. "Yeah." I said. "Right."

I got off him and crawled forward again, carefully curling my hands around the edge of the drop before leaning my head out, looking around.

The tunnel opened up to a sheer drop. The light was too poor to see how far down it went, but the cold air that brushed my face told me it was more than a few feet. I could hear water somewhere far below us trickling downwards, just as the water in the tunnel we were in was dripping into the darkness itself. I turned to look upwards instead. Above us I could vaguely see a dull, reddish light flood down the well, or whatever it was. It faded by the time it reached where we were, but there was enough of it at the top for me to get a better idea of what we were facing. The top of this hole had a grate covering it. The first 2 or 3 feet of the hole's walls were made of smooth cement, but after that it merely became bedrock. I guess they didn't see the point of making the whole thing sleek when they built this joint. It was a little too far to try and figure out what lay above the grate, but I thought I could make out a ceiling of some kind, a man-made one. I couldn't tell where the red-light was coming from but it was pretty obvious it wasn't from anywhere down here.

I turned to look over my shoulder at Mikey.

"Good news and bad news bro. Good news is we got us a way outta this slime-hole. Bad news is we're probably gonna break our necks doing so."

He gave a drawn out groan. "Great."

I nodded. "Mmhmm. Good ta see the ol' turtle luck is still goin' strong as ever."

"So what do we do?" He asked.

I growled lightly, turning myself over and feeling along the rock around the top of the tunnel mouth for a hold. "Whadd'ya think?"

I felt around until I was sure I could grip the rock-face and not slip before I looked for a second hold. Once I was sure I was secure I hauled myself out of the tunnel, standing with my feet in it but supporting myself with my hands. I then tensed my arms and pulled myself up, finding a foot hold before I started the climb towards the grate slowly and carefully.

Somewhere below me I heard Mikey make a noise. "You're kidding right?!"

"Yeah. Ha ha very funny. Now move your ass." I replied, not stopping.

He groaned. "Ok, but if we die then it's your fault."

It was not the easiest climb we'd ever done. My hands were still wet from crawling around that damn tunnel and here and there the rock would feel slick and slimy from whatever liquid drained down the walls into the blackness. I heard Mikey whimper to himself somewhere below me.

"Don't look down doofus! Just watch me!" I snapped at him. I sounded angry, but that wasn't how I felt, really. I just did _not_ want him to freak out and fall.

My tone of voice seemed to work though as he was quiet the rest of the way.

After what felt like an unnecessarily drawn out climb I could reach out and curl my hands around the holes in the grate, pulling myself away from the rock wall and hanging there like I was on a jungle gym or something. I could finally look down at Mikey again and was relieved to see he wasn't far behind. I waited as he made the rest of the climb before he reached out and gripped the grate himself, hanging next to me. He gave a very long, shaking exhale.

"Ya know those people who do this kinda stuff for fun?" He said with a trembling voice.

"Yeah?" I said, only half listening as I looked around the grate to see how we could push it open.

"Yeah. They're outta their puny minds." Mikey said.

"No kiddin'." I agreed, spotting where the grate had been screwed and inspecting it closer.

"Hey c'mere." I nodded towards him, beckoning him closer.

"What's up?" He swung a little closer to look over my shoulder.

I nodded towards the screw. "If we undo that we can move this thing and get inside. Get one of my sai and see if you can loosen it."

"Huh? Why me?" He blinked at me.

I rolled my eyes. "'Cause your hands are smaller than mine shrimp boy. Now do it! My arms are gettin' tired."

He nodded, letting go of the grate with one hand and pulling one of my sai out of my belt.

"You drop it and I'll break your head." I threatened.

He pulled a face and nodded. I blinked slightly at this response. Jeez, I wasn't being serious. No need for him to look at me like that.

He reach up and wormed his hand between two of the grate's bars so that he could turn the sai and loosen the screws holding it in place. It took a few minutes before he got both screws on one side and, turning around, both screws on the other side. He then replaced my sai in my belt before we moved to opposite sides of the grate, digging our hands under it and against the edge of the hole before we lifted the grate up and pushed it aside with a very loud, ear splitting scrape. I winced. So much for the silent entrance.

Once the hole was big enough to fit through I used my hands to pull myself up and out of the dark hole in one movement, quickly pulling free my sai and looking around. Not that I expected any-one to be there. We'd been making so much noise that if any-one was around they'd have iced us long ago. Still, you never know.

The room was deserted though and I put them away again. It looked like some kind of storage room or basement or something. The floors were plain and concrete as were the walls. Pipes and wires lined the walls and ceiling before disappearing into the floor again. There were several large maintenance units against the walls with warning signs plastered all over them, as well as switches, levers and crude buttons, not doubt controlling the power or heat or something. The grate was in the middle of the room and didn't seem to serve much purpose other than give people access to the hole we'd crawled out of if they needed to for whatever reason. The red light which was the only thing keeping the room from being completely dark was mounted against one of the walls, a small cage around the light-bulb. The light caused everything in the room to have this eerie, crimson colour to it. Now I like red, but there's such a thing as overkill.

I turned to help Mikey out of the hole, putting the grate back in place before I stood up, shaking my hands to try and get blood flowing into my fingers again.

"Guess we're walkin' from here." I said, turning to look at Mikey.

He nodded, looking around the room with a nervous expression. I frowned at him lightly as I rubbed my knuckles.

"Whazza matter?" I asked.

He shook his head, turning to look at me. "Nothing."

I made a slight noise at this, drawing my sai again. "It's better than crawlin' around a cold hole in the ground. Just remember that."

I tried to make it sound like words of comfort, but somehow it didn't come out that way.

Mikey merely nodded, as I turned to head for the only door in the room. I pulled out my shell-cell and removed my headset, putting it on before contacting Leo.

"Leo, we're in." I said.

I was met by nothing but silence. I frowned, stopping and putting a hand to the ear-piece.

"Yo Leo, you there?" I asked, a little louder.

Again there was no reply. I felt myself tense up a little.

"Donny. Can ya hear me?"

"Can you feel me near you?" Mikey piped up, still looking around the room.

I growled and turned to face him irritably. "This ain't time for jokes Mikey! I can't get Leo or Don to answer on this thing!"

He turned to look at me and frowned back. He pulled out his own shell-cell and selected a number before putting it to his ear-spot. He waited a few moments before his eyes widened slightly and he turned back to me. "I'm not getting anything either."

I gritted my teeth. "Tch! Dammit that's all we need!"

Mikey put his phone away again. "Maybe... maybe they're busy?" he said.

"Yeah, or maybe they had a little run in with-!" I shut myself up when I saw the expression on Mikey's face.

I grumbled and sunk a little in place, removing my headset. "Nevermind. Look forget I said anythin'. Maybe we're just too deep underground for a signal or somethin'"

Mikey nodded but I could see his expression become more and more worried.

I shook my head at him. "Look, they're fine ok? I know it."

"How do you know it?" He asked tightly.

"I just know." I replied, turning back to the door. "Now C'mon. We need ta move."

The door led out into a dark hallway, lit only the bare minimum amount to stop it from being pitch black. We were definitely in the more janitorial section of the base. That may be kinda freaky if you've watched enough horror movies but in our case it was a good thing. It meant no-one had heard the racket we made as we climbed out the hole in the ground. We made our way down it, weapons in hand as we tried to make rhyme or reason out of where we were going.

I didn't like not being able to talk to Don. Yeah I was worried if he and the others were ok, of course, but it also meant me and Mikey were left running blind without any idea of where we were going or what we were heading towards. Now it really did feel like a horror movie, and for once _we_ weren't the monsters lurking in the dark.

Mikey stuck rather closer to me than he needed to. It felt kinda uncomfortable but I didn't push him away. He was really freaked out by all this. Normally I'd tell him to stop being such a pussy and man-up, but I could see this had more to it than just being afraid of the dark. He wasn't happy about being in this building. I wasn't sure why exactly. I mean I had my suspicions, but I couldn't figure out if it was because he was afraid of running into Bishop, or this Tibalt guy or if he was worried about Leo, Donny and Usagi. Whatever his reasons it wasn't really like him to get _this_ twitchy about breaking into a place like this. Oh sure Mikey could freak out and be a baby when he wanted to, but usually he'd do so more vocally, complaining and voicing his fears out loud. Not follow me around this closely like a little kid. I didn't like it. His nervousness was contagious and I started feeling more edgy myself. So far this mission wasn't going too good.

We went through another doorway some time later and I was relieved to find it opened to a more well-lit passage. Making sure no-one was around, I dragged Mikey out of the darkness and down the hall, keeping my eyes peeled for any-one who might try to get the jump on us.

"Try and find anything that looks like the door to a lab or something'." I whispered to him.

He nodded, looking around shakily. For some reason he didn't seem to feel better now we were out of the dark. If anything he seemed even more jumpy.

We kept going, making sure to avoid the people we started seeing around the place. It was tricky but we seemed to manage ok. So far we'd only seen guards wandering around, but after a while we spotted two guys wearing white coats and carrying touch pads, talking to each other about stuff I'm sure Don could've explained to us. They'd been the first geeky looking guys we'd seen so far. I motioned to Mikey and we followed after them, looking to see where they were going.

We kept our distance as we followed them down the hallway, making sure to stay out of sight. Eventually they reached a pair of double doors, pushed them open and went inside. We waited a few moments before we went over to the doors ourselves, putting our heads against it to listen to what could be inside.

I could hear voices speaking to each other as well as the hum of machinery, other than that it was hard to tell exactly what was in there. I turned to look at Mikey.

"Well, we ain't gonna find anythin' stayin' out here."

He swallowed and gave a reluctant nod. "I.. I guess not."

I couldn't stop myself from giving him a worried expression. I wanted to say something to cheer him up, but this was really not the time. I pulled a slight face at him as I gripped my sai tightly. "At the very least we can 'politely ask' one of 'em where the portal thing is."

Mikey made a slight noise. "Leo said.. we shouldn't get into a fight if we can help it."

I nodded. "Yeah. But we have no idea where we're suppose ta go. So right now I don' think we _can_ help it."

Mikey pulled a face but nodded, getting his nun-chucks into a spin.

I gave him a nod, readying myself before delivering a swift kick to the doors, throwing them open before running inside, Mikey following close behind me.

---

The doors swung open, hit the inside wall of the room them slammed back shut behind us. I stood with my sai poised, ready to unleash some serious hurt on these pencil-necked dorks. At least, that's what I had been expecting to find. Pencil-necked dorks. What I had _not_ been expecting were 2 pencil-necked dorks, and 3 very armed guards. They all turned to stare at me and my little bro when we burst into the room. The two scientist dweebs we had followed were still standing next to each other, facing some or other large machine on the other side of a waist high-railing as they looked over their shoulders to gape at us. One of the guards was standing beside them while the second and third were standing next to a control panel of some kind. They all seemed in a state of shock and didn't react immediately.

I drew in my breath as I saw one of the guards move his hand to his holster and start to draw his gun. I threw out a hand, hard, hitting Mikey in the side and knocking him over as I threw myself to the floor as well. I flung my sai in mid-fall, hoping my aim was as good as I always bragged it was.

The gun went off and I could half imagine feeling the heat from the bullet as it passed mere inches above my head. I felt a slight snap to my mask as the thing pierced straight through the material of one of my bandanna tails before burying itself in the doors behind me. I heard the man who had fired cry out as my sai hit its mark.

I heard orders being yelled as I leap to my feet again, my remaining sai at the ready. I saw a blur next to me as Mikey got up and launched himself forward as well. I aimed for the guard nearest to me, shooting out with my sai to try and catch the gun and rip it away from him. He dodged the thrust and threw out a kick which landed painfully against my plastron around my gut. If it wasn't for the hard bone protecting the area I would've been winded. I regained myself and flipped the sai in my hand to slice at the man instead. He was a big guy. Not in a chubby kinda way, I mean in a 'I go to the gym every night' kinda way. I heard gunfire behind me and quickly flipped out of the line of fire. I didn't know if it was me the second guy was shooting at but I had no time to figure it out.

I kept my attention on my opponent as he raised his own gun again, aiming at me. I snarled and threw myself forward, going into a slide before jabbing forward with my hand, burying the tip of my weapon into his calf-muscle. He gave a loud cry and dropped to one knee, his gun falling from his hands as he gripped the wound.

I flipped myself back onto my feet and barely spotted one of the scientists try and slam a chair against me. I jumped out of the way, not having expected them to get involved in the fight. Turns out they weren't trying to, they just wanted to clear the way before they made for the door, both of them sprinting from the room. I saw one of them yelling into a communicator as he went, looking back over his shoulder at us.

A hard blow landed against my side, partially knocking me down. I spun around to see the large guard standing over me, his hands balled into fists as he drew one back for a second hit. I threw out my feet, catching him around his wounded leg and twisting it, throwing him off balance. He gave a loud yell as he fell over, slamming hard against the floor.

I scrambled, searching for my dropped sai when I heard a much more familiar voice give a sharp cry. My head snapped up in sudden panic as I tried to see where it had come from.

"Mikey!!" I called out before I could stop myself.

I couldn't spot him, and before I had proper time to look around I felt strong arms throw themselves around me and drag me backwards before a leg wrapped around one of mine, pinning it to the ground.

I squirmed in the tight grip, trying to break free with a furious growl. The guard's hold around me only tightened so that I started finding it hard to fill my lungs properly.

"_Get offa me ya giant gorilla!!"_ I yelled angrily, trying to lash out with my hands at the larger man gripping me from behind.

I felt his hold twist and move, one of his hands latching hard around my skull while the second arm wrapped tightly around my throat, fingers digging into the back of my shoulder.

Oh shit! I knew this hold!

I tried to struggle out of his grip again, reaching up and digging my fingers into his arms although I couldn't move much without endangering myself. I felt his hold tighten around my head and shoulder as the man started twisting his hands in opposite directions, hard. He was trying to snap my neck.

I gave another loud cry, partly in anger, partly because of the slowly growing pain I could feel running from my clavicle all the way up the tendons of my throat to behind where my ears were located.

No no no! I'm not going down like this! Not with a big ape twisting my head off like a ketchup bottle!

There was a very loud noise that pierced through the pain and I felt the hands stop their twist. I heard the man make a confused noise. I blinked and turned to see where the noise had come from myself. It took a few moments before my brain identified it as having been a loud whistle.

I saw the guard I had struck with my sai lying motionless on the floor. A few feet from him lay the second guard, also unmoving. Behind him I saw Mikey standing stonily. I raised my gaze up along his figure. What was he doing?! Wasn't he gonna help me outta this mess?!

My eyes came to a stop on his face and froze. I felt the blood drain away from my cheeks.

Mikey was standing with his back straight, turned only slightly towards us. I saw one pair of chucks in one of his hands, the second pair tucked in his belt. He had an arm raised out towards us, a guard's gun gripped firmly in his hand, a finger curled around the trigger. He glared at the man who was pinning me to his chest. He lowered his head slightly as his frown deepened, keeping his gaze focused on us.

He looked like something from a gangster movie. A common executioner. A common thug. A murderer. His eyes were cold and hateful. I saw him tighten his grip on the firearm.

I struggled wildly. "_Mikey No!! Not like this!!"_

He acted like he didn't hear me, tensing himself.

I heard the man holding me take in a breath.

"_Mikey DON'T DO IT!!" _I screamed.

The gun went off.

**Xxxxx**

_._


	29. Mikey Cracks

_I don't own TMNT or UY._

_sorry for the delay. I've had a rough few days and a long, sleepless week. I'm trying to get back in the groove again. I hope you guys will be patient with me.  
_

**Xxxxx**

I felt the metal heat up as the gun bucked in my hand. I heard the deafening crack and saw the muzzle flash.

The man who'd tried to break Raph's neck lurched backwards, his hands releasing Raph as he fell to the floor. Small, crimson flecks of liquid had sprayed across my brother's cheek as he remained where he sat, staring at me with wide, horrified eyes.

I lowered my arm, letting the gun drop from my grip to the floor.

Raph was staring at me in mortified silence. He gave his head a very slight shake. His eyes fluttered and he shook it again, a little harder.

"M.. .Mikey what.. what've you done? What've you done?!" He said, his voice going from shaky to loud in a few brief seconds.

I felt my mouth pull and my expression pain. I couldn't say anything, my tongue was caught in my throat. My feet carried me forward as I found myself walking towards him. I half reached out to, subconsciously, help him to his feet but stopped. He shook his head again, putting his hands to the floor and pushing himself up.

"My God Mikey... Why..._Why?!_" He suddenly snapped at me, his expression switching from stunned horror to anger.

"_Why the hell did you do that?! WHY?!"_

I stammered, shaking my head and opening my mouth, but the words wouldn't come.

"_What the HELL is wrong wit you?! Is THIS what we do?!"_ He reached out and grabbed me roughly by the shoulders.

"_HUH?! We go around blowin' people's heads off?! Is That what we've been taught ta do?!"_ His eyes narrowed sharply as he gave me a single, hard shake.

I shook my head violently, finally finding my voice. "_No!"_

"_Then WHY?!"_ He stopped for a few seconds and his expression changed again, melting from fury to something that looked almost like pain. _"Michelangelo why?!"_

My vision suddenly blurred as I shook my head again, my voice cracking. _"I don't know! He was hurting you! I didn't want him to hurt you!"_

"_So HIT him! THROW somethin' at him!"_ He took a few short, sharp breaths, shaking his head again. _"You don't... you don't SHOOT him."_

My shoulders shook as I was unable to stop a sob from escaping me. _"He was hurting you!"_ I insisted. _"He... he was gonna hurt you!"_

"Yeah but you..." I felt Raph's hands shake as they gripped me. "Mikey... ."

His voice petered out as he stared at me. I could see his eyes gloss over with extra moisture. He couldn't find anything else to say to me.

I shook my head again, shutting my eyes tightly. I was having trouble speaking through my sobs.

"I ... I didn't.... want him to hurt you..."

For a few moments there was nothing. Just the sound of my crying and Raph's hard breathing as he stared at me, not letting me go.

Finally, I heard him take a deeper, shaking breath.

"We gotta go." He said. His voice sounded broken. "The other's will've raised the alarm."

I shook my head, trying to stop my tears to talk. "We... We gotta bandage him first..."

"What??" Raph snapped.

I raised my hands to try and wipe my eyes clear so I could see him. He was staring at me, looking lost in confusion.

"The... the guard." I pointed the the large man I had shot. "He.. He'll. ..he'll bleed to death if... if we don't bandage him...."

Raph blinked at me before he spun around sharply to look at him. He then turned his face back to me, wide-eyed.

"Wha...what?? I thought..." He turned back to look at the guard.

He stayed motionless for a few moments before he let me go and moved over to him quickly, kneeling down and inspecting him.

I pulled down my mask, trying desperately to clear my vision.

"You hit him in the shoulder." I heard Raph say with a flat voice.

I took a quaking breath and nodded, tying my mask back around my face. "Yeah..."

Raph turned to look at me. "You... You _meant_ to hit him in the shoulder??"

I swallowed and nodded again, calming myself down. "Yeah..."

Raph stared at me for a few moments. I couldn't figure out his expression properly. It looked somewhere between relief, fear and deep concern.

After a few moments he turned back to the man, gripping his shirt and hurriedly tore off a long strip before going about making a crude bandage for the wound.

Once he was done he straightened, walking towards me briskly and taking hold of me by the arm. He turned and marched me from the room.

"Come on. We're going."

---

Raph poked his head out of the doorway before he exited, walking me physically out the room and down the hallway. He wasn't letting go of my arm, gripping it tightly and digging his fingers into it. I winced.

"Raph... you're hurting me." I whimpered.

He said nothing but I felt him ease his grip. He still didn't let go though and continued to lead me down the passage, his other hand gripping one of his sai tightly. He was looking around, his eyes flashing as he watched out for any-one who might suddenly appear around a corner and get the jump on us. The scientist guys who'd run from the room were without a doubt letting every-one in the base know we were here. I didn't see them run out the room until it was too late, although I'm not sure what I coulda done to stop them. Guards were gonna start storming down these hallways any second now to try and find us.

Raph was marching more than he was walking. I had to take double steps to stop myself from tripping over. He still wasn't letting me go. Normally I'd pull myself free but for some reason I felt almost numb. I just couldn't work up the nerve to pull my arm away from him. He was walking like he knew exactly where he was going, looking at each door we passed before turning to the front again.

"R..Raphael what're we..?" I started.

"Shut up." He snapped, not slowing.

I bit my tongue and continued to stumble after him. He was furious with me, you didn't need a degree to see that. What's worse is that I couldn't think of any argument I could use to defend my actions. I knew what I did was wrong. Heck I knew it was wrong even as I did it. But at that moment it hadn't mattered. Raph was in trouble and I didn't want him to get hurt. That's all that was important.

Raph suddenly came to a sharp stop and I nearly fell over. The only reason I didn't was 'cause he was still holding on to me. I turned to look at him and saw him press the side of his head against the door with a soft frown for a few moments.

I wanted to ask him what he was doing, but I was afraid to. I've never been afraid of Raph. Never. Oh sure when he got pissed at me I'd shriek and run screaming like a little girl, and I stayed away from him when he was in a bad mood; but I've never been _afraid_ of him. I had no reason to be. Right now it wasn't him I was scared of. I just didn't know what he was gonna do, and I didn't wanna say anything to make him even madder than he was.

He pulled away from the door again and put his sai in his belt before he grabbed the doorknob and pushed it open. He pushed me forward, shoving me inside before he followed after me, closing the door behind us.

I took a few stumbling steps to stop myself from falling before I regained my balance. I looked around the room he'd brought me to. It was small and only dimly lit by one desk lamp and some or other bluer light in the far corner. It kinda looked like a fancy office of some kind, except there were no papers or anything, only computer stuff and wires and shelves with more computer stuff and wires. It kinda made me think of a car garage in miniature. Except with computers. I dunno, I wasn't trying to analyse it. I was more worried why Raph brought me here.

I turned to look at him. He was making sure the door was shut tight before he took hold of one of two chairs in the room and wedged it under the door-handle to stop any-one from coming inside. My throat felt dry and scratchy, but I wasn't sure if it was 'cause I'd been crying or if it was 'cause I was nervous of what was going on. I didn't like this at all.

"Raph." I said hesitantly. "What're we doing?"

He gave the chair a hard push, making sure it was properly wedged before he stood up straight again.

"We're talkin'" He said.

I felt my stomach turn a little bit. "Now?? Here??"

"Right now. Right here." he said, turning to face me and crossing is arms, frowning at me hard.

I gaped at him in disbelief. "Raph we don't have time for this! We got a mission to do! We need to stop Bishop from using his portal... thingy! That's what Leo said!"

He bared his teeth ever so slightly. "Yeah well Leo ain't here, and Leo didn't see what I just saw."

He shook his head slightly. "Thank God." He added.

I felt my brow twitch as my heart sped up. "Raph, we can't do this right now!"

"We _gotta_ do this right now!" He snapped, suddenly raising his voice. "Look I wanna know what the hell is goin' on with ya! And yeah, I _know_ you don' wanna talk about it for whatever reason and I _know_ you're gonna bitch and moan and tell me to leave you the hell alone but I don't friggen' _care!_ You're gonna tell me what's goin' on and you're gonna give me the _whole_ story because I can't stand around watchin' you do this anymore!"

I flinched at the sudden loud words, but quickly hid it behind a frown, tensing my shoulders and trying my hardest to make myself look threatening, knowing Raph has never seen me as a threatening figure. Especially since he was bigger than I was.

"Look I just lost it for a second ok?!" I yelled back. "Shell, I was trying to protect _you!_ Doesn't that mean something?! Why you gotta twist it into something it's not?!"

"Because I ain't!" He yelled. "I ain't twistin' it into anythin'! And this is more than you just 'screwin' up'! This is more than just tryin' ta have my back!! This is more of the same bullshit you've been pentin' up for _days_ now!! You know it's true! And if you don't know then my God you're further gone than I thought!!" He uncrossed his arms and ran his hands back over the top of his head, hard. "Ya can't _do_ this Mikey!! I'm not gonna let you _do_ this!"

I felt a static charge run across my shoulder blades as I started getting angry. "What the hell business is it of yours what I do?! Why d'you wanna know so bad?! It's got nothing to do with you!! You insist on forcing your way into my personal business when I've _told _you to leave it alone and drop it!! How many times do I gotta tell ya I don't wanna talk about it?! Why do you care anyway?! Why?!"

"_Because you're my brother and I love you!!"_ Raph screamed.

Whatever words I had gotten ready to yell as a retort broke in my throat and I swallowed them back, suddenly unable to say anything.

He glared at me furiously, his hands clenched into fists and his shoulders raised aggressively as he grit his teeth at me.

"I ain't watchin' you do this any more!! I ain't watchin' you turnin' into somethin' you're not!! I can't _do_ that!!" The anger in his face flickered, faltering slightly. "I _can't!"_

I opened my mouth, so desperate to say something in retaliation, to just yell and scream at him so we'd get so pissed off with each other that we wouldn't wanna say one more word to one another. But nothing came. It was like my voice had been knocked right outta my throat.

Raph gave his head a hard shake. "What happened Mikey? What did this creep _do_ to ya?! What the hell did he say that was so damn important that you'd turn around and decide you were gonna throw away everythin' we've been taught?!" He shook his head again, turning his eyes to look at me again. "Ya can't do that Mikey! You'll lose yourself!"

The anger was quickly draining out of him. He was staring at me pleadingly now, deep concern in his eyes. He was trying so hard to stay assertive, but his tone of voice had changed too much. He was practically begging me.

"Ya gotta tell me Mikey. I don't want.. ..this." He swallowed. "Please."

My throat tightened all over again as my vision swam. I wanted to tell him. I wanted to tell him the very night I came home from the park. But how could I? Nothing he could say would be able to make anything better. There's nothing he could come up with that would change what that guy had said. If anything, all it would do was screw him up as well. It would just make him feel as messed up as I did. It would make _anyone_ of my family feel messed up and confused. I didn't wanna do that to them. I didn't want them to hear what this Tibalt guy said. It wasn't worth knowing. There was no point in hurting them. I didn't wanna hurt them.

Raph had gone silent, staring holes into me as he waited for me to say something. He wasn't angry any more. He wasn't threatening me into talking or parading his usual macho attitude. He didn't look scared either. I was freaking the hell out of him and I knew it but... he didn't look scared.

Of course he didn't.

Raph's not scared of anything.

I drew in a breath, but my chest wouldn't fill properly.

"I don't..." I managed to stammer out before I choked. I swallowed and tried again. "I don't.. ..know what.. ...what to say...."

Raph said nothing, staying motionless as he stared at me.

I bit my lip, lowering my eyes to the floor. "I don't... ...I mean... ..I don't know where to start and..."

"Start with why ya got into a fight with the guy in the first place." He said.

Heh. A gentle-toned Raph. Now I knew I was in trouble.

I nodded, closing my eyes as I tried to put the events in order in my head. "I was following him ta see where he was going. I was doing good to, until we got to the park. I was still following him and hid, but he musta seen me 'cause he turned around and was all 'Why are you following me?'. So I didn't see any point in hiding so I just stood up to face him. Then he was all like 'What's wrong? Can't ya talk?'. And I was like 'Yeah I can.' Then he was like 'Oh, that's kinda weird'. And came at me. I mean he's such a skinny dork I thought I could scare him off so I tried swinging my 'chucks at him. But he didn't seem scared at all."

I swallowed, opening my eyes although I didn't have the guts to look at Raph. "So then I was like 'Aw shell! This guy's gonna try fight me!'. But there was nothing else I could do. So I attacked him. I didn't know he was gonna be as fast as he was. He was real fast. Like really real fast. But it was... I dunno. It was weird. He moved like he was cheating or something. I dunno how to explain it." I shook my head, trying not to get off topic. If I was gonna spill my guts I gotta do it all at once or I'm never gonna get this out.

"So anyway. Turns out skinny dorks like him actually know how to kick some serious shell. He was really wiping the floor with me. I couldn't even hit him! He was just so fast and moved like.. really weird. And he hit hard. I was..." I hesitated. "I got kinda scared. But there was no way to get outta it. So I kept trying to get in some hits of my own but It didn't work. At some point he knocked me down and was ontop of me with his hands like this;" I put my hands around my throat to demonstrate. "That's when I stated freaking out real bad." I felt my face twitch. "I wished you were there."

There was a pause, and for a while I wasn't sure if I should keep going or not. I didn't think Raph would let me stop there but... I really didn't wanna talk about the next part.

"Then what happened?" I heard him say gently. There was a slight tension in his voice, like he was afraid for me or something.

I took a deep breath, gearing myself up.

"I tried to get him off me, and finally got in a hit. I got up and I was gonna run away. I was gonna forget him and just try and run away. I didn't think I could but I wanted to try. He musta noticed 'cause he said 'so you're gonna turn tail and run? Typical.'

I know I shoulda ignored him, but the words just came out and I was like 'whaddya mean 'typical'?'

He got up again and said 'I just didn't expect much more from you.'

I was annoyed and, well, I didn't want to prove him right so I stayed."

"Bad move." Raph interrupted.

I nodded. "I know. So anyway, I didn't want him to think I was chicken so I was all 'I'm not going anywhere!'

then he said; 'Why not? No-one would blame you.'

and I said 'I'm not a coward!'

then he said. 'Of course not. You're not _able_ to be a coward.'.

So then I was like 'huh?' cause that didn't make any sense am I right?

That's when he came at me and we started to fight again, but he was still talking which I thought was kinda dumb at first.

He said; 'You can't be a coward if all you got are instincts. Cowardice would mean you've got morals. And that's just silly.'

I was talking back cause I was starting to think this guy might just be nuts, but I wasn't sure. I wanted to find out if he actually had a point to yakking like this or if he was just crazy. So I said; 'What are ya talking about? Morals aren't silly!'

then he was like; 'No of course not. That's not what I said. I said the notion that you _have_ morals is silly.'

and I was like 'Why? 'cause I'm a teenager?'" I shrugged lightly but my heart wasn't in it. "I dunno. Seemed like the right response. But he laughed and was like; 'No. It's because you're an animal.'."

I paused and swallowed, recalling the memory. It hurt. "So I was all confused, but his talking was starting to bug me, so I ignored him and focused on hitting him instead. But he didn't shut up.

He kept talking, saying; 'You've never thought of that have you? But it's the truth turtle ninja. This whole 'code of honour' thing and 'ethics' and 'morals' you've based your life on is just a giant joke.'

I couldn't help it so I yelled 'No it isn't!'. I should probably just have kept quiet huh?

Anyway, he laughed at me which made me kinda mad. Then he said; 'Oh but it is. Look at yourself turtle boy. What are you exactly? A ninja? Don't make me laugh. You're nothing but an animal wearing a costume. Like those ladies who dress up their cats.'"

I flinched, feeling my expression harden. "That really made me angry. I made sure to hit him extra hard for that but he... he wouldn't shut up!

He kept going and said; 'What kind of morals and ethics are animals suppose to have? They don't concern themselves with things like that. Why do you insist on making your life harder when there's no point? What are you trying to prove?'

So I was really getting pissed off and was all like; 'Shut up! You don't know anything!' But he wouldn't! He said; 'You said you're not a coward. But that's the same as saying you're not a goldfish! Of course you're not! You don't have the ability to be a coward! You're just an oversized, tragically polluted animal!'"

My voice was starting to rise but I couldn't stop it. I shut my eyes tightly. "I told him to shut up! I told him to shut up but he wouldn't! It wasn't true anyway! He was just trying to unnerve me so he could win the fight! It wasn't true! I knew that! But he wouldn't shut up! He kept going saying; 'You're just like a seal who got caught in an oil slick! You got yourself pumped full of crap but you're still what you are! A seal covered in oil is still a seal! It doesn't suddenly become a person! The only difference is you've been twisted into something _resembling_ a person but you're still just a stupid little reptile born in an aquarium and fed fish flakes for the first half of your life! Oh sure you may think a little faster and you've figured out how to use tools more complicated than a rock but all that that means is that you're a _smart_ animal! An animal with brains! That's all you are!'"

I shook my head hard, as if trying to block out the man's words coming out of my own mouth. "I told him to shut up! Just Shut up!! I just wanted him to shut up!! I hit him! I hit him as hard as I could! I just wanted him to stop! He was lying!! It was all just bullcrap he was spewing out to piss me off!! He needed to stop talking! So I hit him! I kept hitting him until I.. ..I realised he was on the ground and I was pinning him down! He wasn't even fighting back he... He wasn't even fighting back. I stopped I... I couldn't believe I flipped out like that." I swallowed but the tightness in my throat didn't go away. "And he... he smiled at me. And he was all... he was all 'Why are you stopping? You're mad aren't you?' And I almost hit him again but something... something stopped me. And he was like; 'No-one would blame you. You can't blame an animal for killing a person. They don't call that 'homicide', they call that 'an attack'. Cause animals.. ...animals can't... can't commit murder.'"

I realised I was shaking. I felt cold all of a sudden. I wrapped my arms around myself tightly, trying to stop it but it wouldn't go away. It was getting hard to talk. "I.. ..I ran away.. ...I got scared and I.. ..I ran away... ..." I felt something run down my face. "And then Leo _yelled_ at me.... because I... .." My shoulders gave a spasm "Because I... ...I went out and followed that guy just to make _myself_ feel better without.. ..without thinking... just acting on in.. ..instinct and I.. .." I gave a sob. "And I.. ...I..."

I heard Raph shift his weight before his footsteps came closer. I lifted my head to try and look at him but it was no use. My vision was too water-logged and it was too dark in the room. All I could do was make out his silhouette as he came closer. I didn't move, keeping my arms wrapped around myself as tightly as I could. I wish I would stop shaking. I wish I would stop _crying_. It hurt, and I felt sick.

Raph stood himself right in front of me and I felt his hands place themselves on my shoulders. They firmed their grip before easing up again gently.

"Why d'ya listen to him bonehead?" Raph's voice came from somewhere in front of me.

I tried to answer but I couldn't form a sentence, merely choking out another sob as I shook my head weakly.

"Why didn't ya tell some-one 'bout this if it was buggin' ya so bad?" He asked.

I shook my head again, a little harder this time. "C...Cause what'd be the point?? It's... it's not like it's.. ..it's not true! A.. And... and what could any of y.. you _say?!_ There's.. ..there's nothing to say there's just.. .." I shut my eyes again tightly. "There's just nothing to say...."

Raph was quiet. I was trying desperately to stop my snivelling, but it was hard. I was still shaking. It felt like even the air in my lungs were shaking. I felt cold.

Raph wasn't saying anything. Of course he wasn't saying anything! There's nothing to say! I didn't wanna tell any-one about this for just this reason! There's nothing any-one could say about this! I dunno if what the guy had said was _true_ or not but it wasn't exactly a _lie_ either! I'd been running it through my head for such a long time now. Over and over again, trying to forget it, trying to push it aside, trying to tell myself it wasn't worth thinking about. It was just a jackass who liked messing with people! Getting upset about it is just what he wanted me to do! I was busy playing his game! But at the same time how couldn't I? If I just ignored what he said and pretended it was all a giant lie I'd just prove how stupid I really was! I'd been trying to hard to figure it out. I tried so hard to figure it out. But I couldn't. I just couldn't do it.

"D'you wanna go home?" Raph's voice suddenly broke through my thoughts.

I raised my head and looked him in the eyes again, blinking partly in confusion and partly to try and clear away my tears.

I swallowed, trying to find my voice again. "wha... what?"

"Do you, want to, go home?" he repeated, speaking a little more clearly.

I couldn't help but give an empty laugh at this, but stopped when his face came into focus. He was staring at me with hard eyes. I stared back in disbelief. He was serious.

I frowned. "What?"

He kept his eyes on mine, his hands still resting on my shoulders. "I'll take ya home Mikey. Say the word and I'll take ya back right now."

My eyes widened and I gave a tight shake of my head. My tongue felt like it tied itself in a knot before I spoke. "N.. no! No I can't!"

"Sure ya can." He said, his expression softening a little. "Not like the two of us have done much good so far anyway right?" He tightened his hands just a little. "I'll take ya home Mikey. You know I will."

I shook my head again, a little more meaningfully. "No. No I can't I..." I took a deep breath. "I won't."

"Ya sure?" He asked.

I frowned a little harder at him. "Of course I'm sure! Raph we can't leave now! Leo and Don and Usagi are counting on us! Jotaro is counting on us! We can't just _leave_!"

He blinked at me. "Why not?"

"Because it's not _right!"_ I said, my voice getting louder again. I couldn't believe what I was hearing! Raph wants me to just walk out on our _family?!_ What the shell was that all about?!

He frowned lightly. "But this is killin' ya. Ya gotta look after yourself."

"I will _not_ Leave the others behind because _I've_ got problems Raphael! What the heck are you thinking?! I can't believe you'd even say such a thing! You want us to just abandon them for _my_ selfish reasons?! That's horrible!! I won't do it!! I won't!! It's not _RIGHT!_"

I went silent, suddenly aware of how hard I was breathing as I glared at my brother. He stared back at me, not saying anything for a few moments.

"That's how ya feel huh?" He said calmly.

"_Yes!"_ I said exasperatedly.

I felt light pressure on my shoulders as he squeezed them again. "If that's how ya feel... then what are ya worried about?"

"What?!" I snapped, I was angry and didn't feel like being confused right now.

"Ya said it's not right. Ya said that, despite it bein' better for _you,_ ya'd rather keep runnin' around this fun house 'cause the others need ya." He shook his head and I saw him give a sideways smile. "So what the hell does this mother fucker know? He can't even get _that _about ya right. And I mean.. it ain't rocket science right? We look out for each other 'cause it's the right thing ta do," He shook his head. "not 'cause we _hafta._"

I blinked at him, feeling my anger quickly drain away, although I had a feeling it might have been aided by how emotionally tired I was getting.

He gave a sigh, looked to the side for a few moments, then turned back to me. "Look I.. I ain't good with this talkin' thing. And I don' have any answers for ya. But just trust me ok? This asshole has no idea what the hell he's talkin' about. Heck if I were with ya that night I probably woulda laughed at him." He gave a light shrug. "I don' ...have any words of wisdom or any Master Splinter insights or any Leonardo pep-talks. I just got me. And even if everythin' that guy said is true who cares? It don't matter. Ya still wanna help Usagi and his kid right? _That's_ what matters."

I nodded dumbly, lowering my gaze a little. "I still don't know... how to feel about what he said... I don't know what to do..."

Raph shrugged slightly. "I can't help ya bro. But I do know ya can't go around lashin' out at people. I mean I know they're tryin' ta kill us but ya can't lower yourself to their level. I know it's hard some times but ya gotta keep your head on straight anyway. I mean you know me. I don't exactly buy into the whole 'honour' thing much. The whole Bushido business never really got me that excited like Leo."

"Yeah but..." I bit my lip for a moment. "...But you never slip up. You still do what's right. Even when you get angry you still try and do what's right."

He made a noise that sounded almost amused. "That's 'cause I follow my gut. _Not_ the textbook. And even without the textbook my gut _still_ tells me it ain't right ta just go ape-shit and kill people. Ain't that proof enough?"

I thought for a moment, trying to translate what Raph was trying to get at. I could kinda understand what he was trying to say, but somehow, I didn't feel completely convinced. It wasn't that I didn't believe him, but there was still a small amount of doubt in my stomach. More than anything I guess it was self-doubt. I never considered any of my brothers as anything less than the people they are. Raph didn't need to do anything to convince me he was more than a $15 little animal destined for a little boy's aquarium somewhere. But then... He's Raph. He's brave and caring and tough and never compromises. I'm just me. I couldn't compare myself to him or Donny and least of all Leo. I didn't even bother thinking about Master Splinter.

I sunk and shook my head slowly. "I don't know Raphie."

He gave a long sigh, letting go of one of my shoulders and moving to stand beside me. "I know. But I ain't the person to try and talk to. I ain't that good at this stuff. Save the big questions for when we get home ok? Splinter will know what ta say. Till then, just trust me on this; that creep didn't know what he was talkin' about. You're more than all that."

I still wasn't sure, but at the very least I _did_ trust Raph. He's said, at least twice now, that he's not very good at trying to say what he thinks but the truth is, he's better at it than he realises. I just couldn't get all this to stick in my brain right this very second. I needed to think it over. I needed to sit down and try sort this all out in my head.

I felt him let go of me before moving his hand, wrapping and arm around my shoulders and tugging me against him a little.

"Geez. You're really twitchin'. You gonna be ok?" He said, looking me overly worriedly.

I nodded, taking another deep breath to try and calm myself down. I could slowly feel life flood back into my arms and chest. It felt like I'd pulled out a thorn that had become infected. It hurt, a lot. But it was out now. As painful as it was at least it was out.

I felt Raph give me another squeeze. "Calm down ok? You'll be alright."

I nodded shakily. "Y.. ..yeah."

I saw him nod back. "You'll be ok."

"Yeah." I said again. "I'll be ok."

**Xxxxx**

_Been a while since we had a Mikey POV enh?_

_I hope no-one's disappointed by this chapter and the 'reveal' as it were. And I hope no-ones too OOC here, I don't think they're that bad but you never know ^^;_


	30. The Portal

_I don't own TMNT or UY._

_Longest Chapter ever _:|

_P.S. Turtlefreak, you were right about the 'something' XD_

**Xxxxx**

An Alarm started to blare, causing me to slow down slightly. I looked around hurriedly, expecting guards to yell and storm us, but there was no-one around. I frowned and came to a stop, drawing my second katana as I did a quick 360, looking the entire passage over.

"That's not for us is it?" Donny asked worriedly, gripping his bo staff tightly in his hands, looking over the area himself.

I frowned, doing another visual sweep, trying to listen for any approaching footsteps or men's voices. "I don't think so." I said.

"I do not hear any-one trying to ambush us." Usagi said, his head slightly tilted to one side as he listened.

I made a soft noise to myself. "Raph and Mikey." I said bluntly.

Donny swallowed, turning to look at me. "Maybe.. maybe I should go back. I can try and hack into the security system and, I dunno, stop it or something."

I shook my head. "We're gonna need you to deactivate this portal gate. We can't do it on our own Don. Besides, you're the only one who knows where the thing is. Raphael and Mikey are pretty good at taking care of themselves. They'll be ok.

Donny pulled a face, not liking my answer but he nodded anyway.

Usagi made an frustrated noise to himself. "I am concerned that they have been discovered so soon."

I nodded but turned to start moving again. "We'll quiz them about it when we see them again. Right now we gotta stay focused."

Usagi nodded in agreement and followed after me, drawing his katana with his free hand, his wakizashi already gripped in his other. Donny followed after us, looking over his shoulder worriedly to where the alarm was coming from.

After we discovered that our Shell Cells were useless in this place we quickly realised letting Donny stay at a computer station all by himself was pretty pointless. He might be able to turn off the security system and scramble some signals, but he wouldn't be able to do the things we actually needed him for. For one thing he'd already established he couldn't deactivate the portal gate from the computer, and now there'd be no way for him to instruct us on how to do it while he tried to look it up. He'd have to deactivate it himself in person. He was also the only one who could make heads or tails of the base's layout grid, so he was the only one who knew where the portal gate was in the first place as well as the containment cells. We needed him with us.

So now all three of us were trying to make our way to the lab where they were building the portal. So far we'd been going ok. We hadn't been caught yet and hadn't needed to get into any kind of fight. As we got closer and closer to our target we started seeing less guards. At first I was relieved, but after a while I started getting nervous. It felt like we were being set up for a trap or something. I still wasn't entirely convinced that we weren't, but at least the sudden alarm had given us some explanation as to why there was suddenly a lack of firepower around. They'd probably gotten word of an intrusion wherever Raph and Mikey were and had started heading that way and away from this side of the base. Although this meant good news for us I couldn't help but be worried. I know I just told Don and Usagi that they'd be ok, but I wasn't sure I believed myself.

I hoped that, wherever they were, they were trying to find the containment cells and not the portal. I was very concerned about this since I had specifically instructed them to look for the gate and not for Jotaro. Now things had changed and there was no way for us to tell them what's going on. I was making plans as I ran, trying to figure out how to get all of this under control again. I was hoping when we found the portal gate we could leave Donny to do his stuff while Usagi and I head for the cells ourselves. Don might not be able to guide us every step of the way but he could at least give us some rough directions to go on or something. I was wondering if I should let Usagi get Jotaro himself while I tried to find Raph and Mikey before regrouping with him and the boy. I thought about this but decided against it. Usagi was more than capable of handling himself, but it would mean leaving him to be by himself, avoid guards _and_ try and protect a child while I try and regroup with Raph and Mikey who already had each other for backup. It just didn't sound like a good idea. I was just gonna have to have faith in Raph and Mike's skills.

Not that I didn't have faith in Usagi's. He was perfectly capable of looking after himself, perhaps more so than I was. Since he'd been staying with us for such a long period of time, we'd had more sparring matches than we'd ever been able to squeeze in before. Going against him so many times had given me a better idea of his fighting style. We were still pretty equal as far as skill and technique went, but I knew there were some things I had as advantages over him. I was a lot more flexible and agile than him, being a ninja and able to employ my acrobatics into my fighting. I was also physically stronger than he was. On the other hand though, Usagi had the advantage of speed. Not just speed of movement but also how fast his strikes with his blade were. They were incomparable. He also didn't hesitate when he struck. I was sure he'd have no problem getting around this base on his own. However we were still facing armed guards in a strange place we didn't know. It was better not to get split up. To be honest I wasn't happy about the idea of leaving Donny to deactivate the gate by himself either, but circumstances didn't give us much choice on what to do.

"Next right!" Donny called behind me. "Then there should be a set of doors leading to the observatory control room!"

I nodded. I wasn't sure what exactly that meant, but if it's what Don was looking for then that's where we needed to go.

We rounded the corner and ran down the hallway Donny had mentioned. I could see the pair of double doors in front of us. Somewhere behind me I heard a computerized woman's voice informing the guards which section of the base Raph and Mikey were in. Sector 3-10. I memorized the number and logged it away for when I could ask Donny where that was and if he didn't know, if he could perhaps find out.

We reached the doors and came to a stop. Me and Usagi put our heads to it, listening for any activity inside.

"Some-one's in there." I said.

Usagi nodded. "Two of them."

I looked the door over, expecting it to be locked. It didn't take much searching before I spotted the security pad against the wall. I moved closer to it, beckoning Donny over.

"Hey Don, come look at this." I said, leaning down to inspect it.

Donny trotted closer, leaning down to look it over too.

"Hmmm." He frowned to himself.

"Can you open it?" I asked, watching him.

He chewed his lip thoughtfully. "It requires a palm-print to be unlocked. Obviously none of us are gonna be able to open it up like that," He unslung his duffle-bag and unzipped it, scratching around inside. "so we're gonna have to find another way of getting inside."

He pulled out a small screw-driver and knelt down in front of the security pad, unscrewing it and pulling off its protective casing, exposing the wires inside. He started looking them over, putting away the screw-driver and pulling out a small pair of wire-cutters.

"I do not suppose they would be dim-witted enough to open the door if we merely knocked." Usagi said, looking over the closed entrance.

I couldn't help but snerk slightly at this. "Somehow I don't think so no."

Usagi nodded, a slight smile on his face. "Pity."

"Guys keep your voices down! They're not deaf ya know." Donny grumbled as he worked, scratching off the plastic coating of a wire and unwinding the copper threads inside it.

I nodded, turning to look back over my shoulder instead to make sure no-one was gonna spot us standing in the middle of the hallway like this. Usagi adjusted his grip on his katana impatiently, keeping his eyes on the doors, ready to lunge the second they opened.

Donny grumbled to himself, flicking a finger before sucking on it.

I frowned. "Everything ok?" I whispered, keeping my voice down.

He made an irritable noise. "Whoever designed this thing is either an idiot or a genius."

"Probably Baxter then." I said. I'd meant it as a joke, but to be honest it was a little too true to be funny. I hope he wasn't in this base as well. Two psychos were more than enough to deal with.

Donny made a noise again, frowning hard at the network of wires in front of him.

"They will start to suspect something if we do not hurry." Usagi said, turning to look at us urgently.

"I'm doing the best I can here!" Donny grumbled, shooting him a light glare.

"You know," I said as a thought struck me. "if Raph were here, he'd ask why we didn't just crack the thing open."

Donny frowned with a thoughtful noise, stopping his rewiring and looking the thing over. He traced his fingers along one of the threads, taking note of where it connected. He lifted the wire-cutters and quickly snipped two of the wires before he shifted backwards.

"Ok, go for it." He said, looking up at me.

I nodded before moving closer and slashing at the small panel with my swords.

The thing sparked and crackled before there was a decompressing sound from the doors themselves. Donny moved closer quickly and dug his fingers in between them before tugging one open. The minute there was a big enough gap Usagi shot forward into the room, me following close behind.

The two people inside turned out to both be scientists. They'd already turned to face us when Donny pulled open the door and now were trying to get away as fast as possible. The only way out the room though was the door we'd just come bursting in through. Usagi charged at one of them while I took care of the other, slicing him along his arm when I saw him lift his communicator to call the guards. I then delivered a sharp kick to his stomach, winding him and causing him to double over before I brought my elbow down on his head, knocking him out.

I turned to see if the other guy had been taken care of. Usagi had stabbed him in the shoulder and was busy slamming the butt of his short-sword against the man's head. He turned to make sure the guy I'd attacked was down before he straightened, flicking his blades clean and replacing them in their sheaths. He turned, giving me a single nod before he knelt down and started tearing off a strip of the man's coat to tie him up with.

I replaced my own swords before doing the same. No casualties this time. I appreciated the gesture.

Behind us, Donny tried to close the door again.

"We're gonna have to move fast." He said. "Chances are it won't be long before some-one spots that sparking security panel, and now we don't have any way of locking them out.

I nodded. "Believe me, I'm not planning to st-"

"_Kuso!"_ Usagi swore.

I turned to him sharply.

He was staring ahead of himself motionlessly. His eyes were wide and his pupils contracted. I followed his gaze to see what had shocked him so badly, and froze.

The room we were in was, to put it mildly, small. It consisted of the door we'd came in through, about 3 feet of floor and then a large control panel running along the entire length of the wall. The control panel was about waist high, and completely covered in controls, levers, dials, touch screens, buttons and a vast amount of other technical read-outs and monitor devices. But this wasn't what he was staring at. Above the control panel, the rest of the 'wall' consisted of a thick Plexiglas window. Through it you could see a very sizeable room, more than two storeys high. We were on what you could call the second storey, looking down on the entire expanse of it below us.

It was mostly open space consisting of colourless tiles. On the walls I was able to see from here, there were large doors, with short, sloping walkways leading into the room. Further left, large, wall-mounted machines were blinking and flashing to themselves as scientists monitored their outputs. Further left still there was a long, rectangular control panel, unconnected to anything else running almost from wall to wall through the centre of the room, and beyond that was a another, much wider sloping walkway.

It led to the middle of an enormous oval shaped ring which rose all the way up the the ceiling. It was made of what looked like normal, industrial steel. Bolted and welded together from several slabs and curved sheets. Near the base it had a large triangular slab holding it in place made from the same material. It wasn't sleek and futuristic looking as I'd imagined it to be, but it didn't look low budget either. If Anything I'd have to describe it as looking practical. Bishop hadn't bothered with prettying it up. Thick robotic looking arms hung from large machines mounted to the ceiling, whirring and screeching as they made adjustments to the circular frame of the thing before they'd shift straight to the side or straight down and repeated the action. The centre of the ring was blank, revealing nothing but the empty wall behind it.

So this was it. This was what Bishop had been up to; why he'd sent Tibalt marching into 2nd Earth to find a specimen, why he'd torn a little boy from his father and why he'd put my friends and family through this whole ordeal. I felt my jaw lock. It was ugly. It was towering, ominous, dark and ugly.

I tore my eyes from it long enough to look at Usagi who was still gaping at it, completely dumb-struck. I swallowed.

"You ok?" I asked carefully.

His eyes fluttered as I broke his concentration and he nodded weakly. "Yes."

He turned away from the sight to look at me, he seemed badly shaken. "But I will be better when this abomination is destroyed."

I gave a nod. "That's why we're here."

I turned. "Donny."

My little brother was staring at the machine in front of us, his eyes darting back and forth as he traced its shape, scanning the large robotic arms and the flashing controls in the room below us.

"Don." I tried again.

He started and turned to me sharply. "Huh?!"

I pulled a face at him. "I think it's better they don't turn that thing on. Don't you?"

He blinked at me before he gave a nod. "Yeah." He unslung his duffle-bag to the floor before he walked to lean over the control panel. "No kidding."

As Donny tried to make head or tails from the control layout Usagi and I were free to stare at the giant machine in front of us again. It really was large. In my mind's eye I could see Bishop marching his 'super-human' army through the centre of it. I could see them with their futuristic weapons and bombs marching cross the peaceful hills and forests that were Usagi's home. I had only been there once, but I remember clearly what it had looked like.; Crisp air, bright sunlight and the wind that smelled only of trees and grass. No smoke or emissions or pollution. I tried thinking what it would look like with Bishop added to the mix. The vision that created itself in my mind made me shudder.

Usagi blinked at this and turned to look at me. He frowned at me lightly, his eyes flitting back to the machine briefly before he turned to face me properly.

"You are afraid of it?" He asked.

I turned to him, shaking my head. "No. I'm afraid of what it can _do_."

He gave a nod, turning to look at it again himself. "Me too."

I watched him silently for a few moments before I turned to see how Donny was getting along. He was still looking over the controls. I noticed now and then he would reach forward and press a few buttons cautiously before standing back again.

"Getting anywhere Donny?" I asked, turning to walk over to him. I was anxious to keep going and find Jotaro, but I wanted to know Don would be alright by himself.

Donny made a meaningless noise. "I'm not entirely sure what all of these controls do. I'm gonna need some time before I can figure out how to do some permanent damage to that thing."

I bit my lip. "How much time Don? I don't mean to pressure you but we don't really have a lot to spare."

Donny's face hardened and he gave an understanding nod. "It'll take a while Leo." He looked up from the controls to my face. "You and Usagi should go find Jotaro. I can manage here by myself."

I grumbled reluctantly. I knew I had been planning for this, but actually having to do it made me feel very uneasy. Donny blinked at me before he gave me a smile.

"I'll be fine Leo. Besides, you and Usagi aren't gonna be much use to any-one sitting around here and watching me work."

"He is right Leonardo." Usagi said, having turned to listen to the conversation.

I sighed and gave a nod. "Yeah yeah. I know." I turned back to Donny and gave a light shrug and an almost-smile. "Just watch your back ok? And if things start looking too risky head for the shell-sub and wait for the rest of us. Ok?"

He gave a nod. "Of course." He cocked a brow at me, smiling broadly. "I _have_ done this before ya know."

I rolled my eyes at him. "I know, but I'm not too happy about being out of contact when Bishop is running arou-"

"Leonardo!" Usagi spoke up suddenly.

I dropped my sentence and turned to him hurriedly. He was staring out the Plexiglas window again, a deep, serious frown on his face.

"What's wrong?" I asked, quickly turning to look at the portal, expecting to see, I dunno, it glowing or powering up or something. I was relieved to see it hadn't changed at all.

Usagi nodded towards the floor below us. "The scientists have all gone. Only one remains."

"What? Why?" I turned my gaze to the large room's floor instead, frowning deeply to myself.

I froze as the sight that greeted me answered my question. Standing in the centre of the room, staring upwards and directly at us, was the black figure of Agent Bishop. He had his arms crossed behind his back, his posture as stony as ever. His head was raised to face the observation window we were peering through. For a brief moment I almost tricked myself into believing he hadn't spotted us, that behind his sunglasses he was perhaps thinking to himself, or staring at something against the wall. However when I turned to look down at him properly and felt my own shoulders tense and rise I saw the slightest hint of a smile spread on his lips.

I felt my face twist into a grimace as I stared back at him. Cocky bastard! Now doubt he'd spotted us and cleared his staff from the room, waiting for us to spot him return. It was a challenge, one he knew I couldn't afford to ignore unless I wanted him to corner us in this little box we'd put ourselves in.

I kept my eyes locked him as I spoke to Donny. "Don. Get down and out of sight quickly."

He blinked and looked up from controls. "What?? Why??"

"Just do it!" I said a little more urgently.

I don't know if Bishop had seen Donatello bent over the controls and pressing buttons. I was hoping he had kept his attentions on me and Usagi when he spotted us and hadn't noticed my little brother. I knew there was no reason for him not to have seen Donny as well, but somewhere in the back of my mind I was clinging to the desperate hope that he was paying too much attention to me to worry about Don. No offence to my little brother, but if you put the two of us next to each other I'll most definitely be seen as the bigger threat between us, if only because I carried bladed weapons and not just a staff.

'So use that to your advantage'. A voice in the back of my mind said to me.

I gritted my teeth tightly, forming a loose plan on what to do.

"Leo, what's going on?" Donny said, having crouched down behind the control panel, staring up at me worriedly.

I didn't look away from the window, keeping my gaze resting firmly on the lone man staring back up at me.

"It's Bishop." I said simply.

Donny gave a visible flinch and a small, squeak of a noise. "_He's here?! _He hasn't seen us has he?!"

"He's seen us." I replied, my tone of voice sounding oddly flat to me.

Donny gave a groan.

"This is your 'Bishop' then is it?" Usagi asked me, staring down at him as well. There was a strange bite to his tone of voice.

I said nothing. I wasn't sure Usagi was really expecting an answer.

"What do we do Leo?" Donny asked nervously.

"I don't know if he can see us clearly from where he is," I answered. "and even if he can I don't know if he's really interested in all three of us."

I turned away from the window just slightly, ready to leave. "Stay here Donny. We'll try keeping him busy while you shut that thing down permanently."

Donny blinked at me with wide-eyes. "Leo no! I'll come with you!" He started moving to get up again.

"No!" I said sharply. I almost turned to face him but stopped myself just in time. I didn't want Bishop to see me talking to a third person in the room. "Stay here Don. I'll be fine."

Donny bit his lip, his hands clenching. "I don't like this Leo"

"I know." I said. "But we need you up here."

Donny pulled a face before he sighed, sinking. "Ok. But be careful!"

I narrowed my eyes at Bishop, glaring at him hatefully before I turned away and started to walk out the room, turning to look over my shoulder at Usagi as I went. "Come on."

Usagi gave a nod and followed after hurriedly.

"_Ganbatte"_ I heard him wish Donny luck as he left.

"Back atcha." Donny said with a nervous voice.

---

I marched down the hallway hurriedly, heading back the way we had come. When we had first headed this way I'd half noticed an elevator at the end of one of the side passages. I'd made sure to remember it in case we needed a quick escape, or more pessimistically, where guards might suddenly appear from if we were discovered. My plan was to use the elevator to go down one floor, then enter through one the doorways we'd seen leading into the portal room. From there I would try and get Bishop talking for as long as I can, buying time for Donny to do his work. If it came to it, I'd have to draw my swords against the man to keep his attention. I wasn't very fond of the idea. Bishop had some serious moves in him, and usually a fight against him ended up with me relying on luck more than anything else. However, I was already mentally preparing myself to face him. I couldn't really see how to stay out of a fight, despite how much I hated the idea.

I pushed the down button on the elevator and waited. The sound of Usagi's _waraji_ sandals followed me before he came to stand beside me, waiting for the doors to open.

"Is this not risky? He asked, turning to look back over his shoulder to where we'd come from. "Will he not merely leave and call for his men to apprehend us?"

I shook my head. "No. Bishop likes to keep things _personal_." I said, putting extra venom into the word. "He'll wait for us."

Usagi nodded, turning back to the front. He still seemed unsure, but he didn't say anything else.

We stood in silence, staring at the steel doors, listening to the far-off ding as the machine rose up from one of the lower floors to meet us.

Plans and back-up plans ran wild as I tried to come up with different ways in which I could keep Bishop's attention away from the small window where Donny would be working. However, a different thought was working its way through my frantic strategies, and I swallowed.

"You should go." I finally mustered up the courage to say.

Usagi blinked and turned to me, looking confused. "Excuse me?"

"You should go." I repeated, purposefully keeping me eyes on the elevator doors. " You should go find Jotaro and get him to the shell-sub. I can take care of Bishop by myself. There's no point in both of us going and wasting time. It'd be better if you find your son while I keep him busy."

He blinked at me, the confusion leaving his face as he frowned at me lightly. He said nothing.

I took a breath and turned to him, giving a reassuring nod. "It'd be better. Bishop'll be more interested in me since he knows who I am. Besides he's after me and my brothers anyway, he won't think to go after you if you don't show up."

"He has already seen me." Usagi answered, staring at me with a hard expression.

I gave a nod. "Yeah, but if I distract him for long enough you should be able to at least get a head start away from here."

"I do not know where the cells are." Usagi said instead.

I made an aggravated noise. "You'll have a better chance of finding them than you would if we get into a fight."

"He will sends guards if he sees I am not with you." Usagi said.

"Ok ok I get it!" I said, turning to him. "Yes, I know alright?! But you'll still have a much better chance finding Jotaro if you go now! Look, we don't even know if Raph and Mikey are even _looking_ for the boy! They might be heading _here_ instead! You should go. Maybe if you're lucky you can run into them on the way or something and get out of here."

He said nothing for a few moments, keeping his gaze fixed on me. I stared back at him meaningfully, my face hard-set.

He remained unmoving for a few moments before he gave a slight sigh, his expression softening. He shook his head.

"I will not leave you to do this by yourself Leonardo."

I clenched my teeth. "This is no time to be all loyal Usagi!"

He gave a single, mirthless laugh at this. "You say that as if loyalty can be turned on and off at will. No. I am sorry my friend. I understand your concerns, and your logic is sound, but I will not leave you to face your fate on your own."

I put my hand over my face, making an irritable noise. "Dammit, you _know_ I'm right!"

He gave a nod, his expression serious again. "I do. But I am unable to abandon a friend when I know they are about to face danger. It is a weakness I have."

"It's not 'weakness' Usagi. It's just plain, garden variety 'stubbornness'." I growled at him.

He turned back to me, raising a brow. "Perhaps. But if we traded roles, what would you do in my position?"

I made a noise at this. "Probably the same damn thing you're doing."

He gave a nod, turning back to the elevator doors as they opened. "Then you understand why I will not leave."

"Oh I understand alright." I said, entering the elevator, him following behind me. "It's 'cause you're an idiot." I hit the button for the floor below us.

"That is a little curt is it not?" Usagi said, tilting his head and pulling a face at me.

"Yeah?" I eyed him irritably. "If we switched places what would you be calling me, huh?"

He nodded at this. "You make a good argument."

The doors to the elevator opened again and we stepped out, heading down a hallway identical to the one we'd just come from, turning down a passage and heading towards the pair of double doors ahead of us. They opened when we got close and we stepped through them, entering the room with the large, ringed gate and the waiting figure of Agent Bishop.

He was standing in the same spot as he had been when I first noticed him. He turned to face us when we entered. I half wanted to glance at the, now rather small, window we had just come from to make sure Donny was ok, but I was afraid Bishop would notice and decide Don was a threat he needed to deal with. I still wasn't convinced he hadn't seen Donny already. He kept his eyes locked on me as we came a stop a few paces across from him. I had my swords sheathed, hoping to keep a conversation going for as long as possible before I need to use them. The longer we talked, the more time Donny had. I was aware that Usagi had also left his swords in their scabbards, following my lead. I wasn't sure if he was thinking the same things I was or if he was merely mimicking me based on faith in my plans.

Bishop kept his eyes locked on me for a long stretch of time before they drifted towards Usagi for a few moments. My eyes narrowed and I felt my shoulders tense slightly.

An emotionless smile flitted on Bishop's face for a moment before he turned his attentions to me again.

"Leonardo. I must say, I had not had not expected you and your family to get involved in my business this time around." He sounded almost amused.

"Yeah well you have a bad habit of _making_ your business our business." I replied, making sure not to reveal too much of what we knew or why we were there.

"If you are here then I expect your hatch-mates aren't very far away." Bishop went on. "but I'm surprised to see you've brought a different kind of freak along with you this time."

The insult stung and I felt my temper rising slightly but I fought it back. Usagi said nothing and I didn't dare take my eyes off Bishop to see his reaction to this.

"He's not a mutant if that's what you're implying." I said to Bishop. Secretly, I hoped this would quell any peaking interest Usagi might hold for him. I couldn't help it, I'm protective by nature.

Bishop shook his head slightly. "I know he's not the same you and your family." He turned to face Usagi directly. "If my guess is right, then you are Usagi Miyamoto aren't you?"

I twitched lightly at this and I heard Usagi tense ever so slightly.

"I find it unmannerly of you to ask when you have not formally introduced yourself." Usagi answered with an even tone. "Further more, I am unsettled that you should know who I am without explaining yourself."

Bishop's brow furrowed slightly and I knew he was narrowing his eyes at Usagi behind his shades.

"Let's just say... I've met an acquaintance of yours who talks about you quite often." He said, a faint smile spreading on his face, driving the implication home.

Usagi didn't say anything in reply, he merely made a tight, disgusted noise and I heard him slide one of his sandals ever so slightly, widening his stance instinctively.

Seeing the growing tension I decided to get Bishop's attention back on me. We needed to draw this out for as long as we could before a fight broke out.

"Where is he Bishop?!" I said sharply.

The man turned to look at me again with an expression that looked almost like disapproval.

"You come and break into _my_ headquarters and then expect me to answer your demands?"

"If you don't hand the boy over we'll tear this place apart looking for him!" I threatened.

"You know as well as I do that I have the upper hand here Leonardo!" Bishops said, his voice rising a little. "You'd be butchered alive before you'd even find where he's being kept!"

"Oh you wouldn't do _that_," I sneered at him. "After all, you still wanna get a good look inside 'here'." I tapped my plastron meaningfully. "I doubt you'd let your men do _too_ much damage."

"They don't need to damage you." Bishop replied. "A whole body is good enough."

"Why waste your bullets?" I argued. "Just give us the kid and we'll get outta your hair!"

"I've dealt with you too many times to expect you to just 'get out of my hair' without doing at _least_ enough damage to my base of operations to severely annoy my benefactors!" Bishop replied with a little more anger than he'd been using before.

"Well said."

The sudden, cheerful voice came as a shock. For a moment I almost thought it had been Bishop who'd spoken. However when he snapped his head to the side I realised we weren't alone. I quickly turned to see who'd joined the conversation, instinctively reaching up to put a hand to one of my sword hilts. Usagi took a step back so that I could see past him as he also turned to the speaker. The fact that Usagi hadn't heard him enter bothered me.

Leaning against the control panel running through the centre of the room stood the now infamous man in the blue-suit. He had his arms crossed and was watching us with a bemused smile on his face, obviously enjoying the fact that he'd caught us all by surprise. He seemed relaxed and unfazed by Usagi and me's presence in the base.

"I thought I gave _Specific_ orders for this room to be cleared Mr. Tibalt." Bishop said with a generous amount of bitterness to his voice.

I blinked and half turned to glance at him out of the corner of my eye. That wasn't just annoyed Bishop talking, he sounded like he honestly disliked the man. Somehow I found this almost comforting. Maybe its something I could use to our advantage.

My train of thought was interrupted when I heard a low rumble grow in Usagi's throat, his hand tightening drastically on the hilt of his katana.

Tibalt turned to give Bishop a disarming smile. "Yes, but I thought it'd be rude of me to not greet our guests."

"We don't have time for your _games_ Mr. Tibalt." Bishop said instead, glaring hard at the man.

"No no, you seemed to be playing _his_ just fine." Tibalt replied, nodding his head towards me.

I felt my mouth dry at this.

"What do you mean?!" Bishop said irritably.

Tibalt shook his head and uncrossed his arms. "He's trying to distract you, and you're falling for it."

Bishop's frown deepened and he turned to me angrily, giving me an accusing look. I merely glared back at him with as much hatred as I could gather.

"Not that it matters though." Tibalt said cheerfully. "After all, the gate's already reached the phase where it's operational right?"

I felt my heart almost triple beat itself as blood drained from my face. Next to me, I heard Usagi take a shallow breath.

Bishop turned back to Tibalt, his anger rising. "Do you have a _reason_ for exposing what is suppose to be classified information ?!"

Tibalt gave a light shrug at this. "I feel they've a right to know. They've come this far haven't they? And besides, you could say the rabbit and I are old acquaintances."

He turned to look at Usagi and his smile brightened ever so slightly. "Hello again Miyamoto-san."

Usagi gritted his teeth and tensed himself at this. I could see the hackles on the back of his neck rise. He didn't answer the man, glaring daggers at him. Tibalt didn't seem to take offence in the slightest.

"Last time I saw you, you were enjoying the fields on a sunny day." He went on as if Usagi and him were old friends who hadn't seen each other in a while. "I'm sorry I had to bid you good-bye rather swiftly. Business and all that."

"Where. Is. My _son_?!" Usagi spat, punctuating each word verbally, his eyes narrowing.

"Oh is _that_ all you're after!" Tibalt said as if the thought hadn't occurred to him. "Good Lord! What a trip to take just for such a little thing!" His smile suddenly darkened, his tone becoming more levelled. "You've come a long way for the little bastard haven't you?"

Usagi gave a furious cry at this, ripping his katana from its sheath. I was barely able to intervene, grabbing hold of him and pinning him against me tightly.

"Usagi stop!" I tried desperately to calm him. Tibalt didn't so much as flinch at the outburst, his grin widening.

"_Don't you call him that!! Don't you EVER CALL HIM THAT!!"_ Usagi screamed at him, struggling hard to break my hold.

"Usagi No! It's what he _wants_!" I said loudly, tightening my hold harder than I needed to, hoping to snap him out of it.

Usagi wriggled in my arms but stopped when he heard my words, puffing and panting as he gave Tibalt a fierce stare, wanting nothing more than to cut him to ribbons.

"Mr. Tibalt is there a _point_ to all this?!" Bishop interrupted impatiently. "I hope you have a better reason to be here apart from playing your mind games! I am growing impatient with your emotional manipulations!"

Tibalt turned to him as if completely forgetting Usagi and I were still in the room. "Oh yes. But of course Mr. Bishop, forgive me for getting side-tracked."

He pushed himself away from the control panel and took a few steps towards us. I let Usagi go quickly, reaching back and drawing both my swords threateningly. Usagi, thankfully, had calmed himself down enough to not lunge at the man, but I could hear him breathing hard as he refused to take his eyes off him. I'd never seen my friend this angry before. It was frightening.

Bishop didn't react to Tibalt's approach, remaining where he was as he stared at him irritably.

"I've just gotten word from My Boss, and it seems that, since the Portal is at an operational level, he would prefer it if we activated it right away." Tibalt said, his cheerful smile still staying but his tone of voice holding something strangely ominous.

"We are not prepared yet _Mister_ Tibalt." Bishop said impatiently.

"No, _you_ are not prepared yet." Tibalt corrected him. "_We_ have merely been waiting for the project to reach this stage. Now that it's working we can carry out our plans as needed."

Bishop honestly looked stunned for a moment before he frowned hard, talking through clenched teeth. "If you recall _Mister_ Tibalt, the agreement was that _we_ would build your employer the Gateway if he lets us use it to further our cause. We have not yet done the trial run needed for testing. We're not even sure what sort of affect switching this thing on might have, let alone what it would do to living tissue! The Gateway may be completed _Mister_ Tibalt but we are _far_ from completing the project!"

"Yes, yes. All very true Mr. Bishop." His smile turned into a wide grin. "But I'm afraid plans have changed. My Boss is in position to move _now_. He sees no reason to prolong this project any further."

"Your Employer wishes to use the Gateway _tonight?!"_ Bishop nearly yelled. "Such Rash action borders on the moronic! I won't permit him to enter my base! We still need _time_! The device, is, not, _Ready!"_

"It is more ready than he needs it to be!" Tibalt said, suddenly raising his own voice as he reached into his pocket.

I tensed, expecting him to pull out a gun. Instead, however, it was a small, featureless key. Without bothering to turn around, he inserted it into a waiting hole in the control panel behind him, giving it a quick twist.

The colossal ring behind him suddenly sprung to life. I could hear the slow, growing hum of machines powering up as hundreds of threads of light suddenly started to thread across the metallic structure. The inner side of the circular frame started to slowly gain a light of its own, a sharp, piercing cyan which was steadily growing brighter until it became painful to look at directly. The wall that was visible through the centre of the ring started to look distorted, as if I was looking at it through melting glass. It started to darken and spin slowly as a large, black sphere formed itself, growing steadily as the humming and bright light grew in intensity.

"_Tibalt! You go too far!_" Bishop yelled, launching himself forward with terrifying speed. I had expected him to attack the man, but instead he pulled a twin key from his own pocket, hurriedly slamming it into its matching hole in the control panel and quickly hitting a series of buttons.

I turned to look at the ring expectantly, waiting for it to start powering down again.

It didn't.

The black circle in its centre was growing larger. Small, static charges were starting to spark on its surface.

"Oh, I forgot to mention!" Tibalt yelled over the noise. "I made a few last minute changes!" His smile broke, twisting into a cruel sneer. "You no longer have control Mr. Bishop, and your services are no longer required!"

"_Your employer won't step one foot in this room Tibalt!! I will have him gunned down where he stands!!"_ Bishop yelled, rounding on him furiously.

"But Mr. Bishop!!" Tibalt yelled. The noise was becoming deafening as the florescent lights in the room flickered. "Whoever said My Boss was going to use the portal from _This_ side?!"

"_Leonardo!"_ Usagi suddenly yelled, grabbing me by an arm, his eyes locked on the growing ball of blackness in the ring's centre. _"I can hear it straining!! It will not hold!!"_

"_Tibalt what have you done?!"_ Bishop was screaming, grabbing Tibalt by his collar.

"_Your preliminary power setting was not sufficient enough for My Boss to make the crossing! I have imputed them to run at maximum!!" _Tibalt yelled back over the noise, he was still smiling.

"_Leonardo!"_ Usagi yelled again, giving my arm a hard shake. _"We must leave!!"_

I nodded, finally coming out of my trance and turning to follow him out of the room, breaking into a run.

We only got a few paces before there was an earth-shattering blast and I felt my feet get thrown over my head. There was a blinding light, and then sudden darkness.

----

Darkness.

A low, far off rumble.

A slowly growing, acrid smell.

Like something burning.

I could hear crackling, slowly getting louder as I felt a throbbing pain grow in my head.

Blurred shapes started to form themselves. Orange and flickering, punctuated by a very brief, fast line of blue.

I blinked and they focused more. The crackling and rumbling grew louder. I became aware of the wind rushing over me as the smell of smoke became sharper and more clear.

I blinked again, realizing I was on the floor. I shifted, putting my hands to the ground and pushing myself to my knees. My head was pounding and I could taste blood. I shut my eyes tightly before opening them again, looking around to try and make sense of where I was.

The entire area was flashing red in an even pattern and I could barely make out the sound of an alarm above the noise of the wind and the crackle and the booming rumble. There was fire. That's what was crackling. Several of the machines had been ripped from where they were mounted against the wall and had burst into flame. I could see long cracks in the floor tiles. The Control Panel in the centre of the room was all but destroyed, a large chunk of it had simply been torn off and broken into pieces by the explosion. At least two of the enormous robotic arms had been ripped from the ceiling and had crashed to the ground, sending electronic shrapnel everywhere. The Plexiglas window stood open and empty, the clear material broken and pulled from the frame.

The towering ring stood in the middle of it all, the metallic frame ablaze with cyan light, the large black circle gone, replaced by a swirling blue vortex which spiralled in on itself. Long, lightning-like flashes shot out from its centre, hitting the walls and floor, cutting gashes into the porcelain tile and steel sheets wherever it struck. Air was rushing inwards towards it like a vacuum, smoke and broken tile swirling in with it.

There was no sign of Bishop, or Tibalt or...

I nearly swallowed my own tongue as I jumped to my feet, panic shooting through me.

"_USAGI?!" _I searched the immediate area frantically, my breath becoming fast and shallow.

No reply came apart from a long coil of lightning striking dangerously close to me. I scrambled across the room, looking around wildly. My heart was pounding.

"_USAGI WHERE ARE YOU?!"_

I could barely hear my own voice above the roar of the open portal, trying hard to duck the flashes of sudden light. I clambered over the remains of one of the robotic arms, searching desperately.

My foot caught on something among the arm's twisted metal and wires and I fell to the floor with a sharp noise.

That's when I spotted him not too far off, completely unsheltered from the fire and the energy strikes. I quickly leapt up again, barely preventing myself from getting hit by one of the blasts from the portal as I rushed towards him.

"_Usagi!!"_ I dropped to my knees, putting my hands on him. He wasn't moving.

I quickly turned him over, my breath caught somewhere between my throat and my lungs. He didn't react, his face horrifyingly placid.

"Oh God..." I shook my head. "Oh God _No!!"_

**Xxxxx**

_._


	31. Splitting Up

_I don't own TMNT or UY._

**Xxxxxx**

I won't lie, I'd have felt much better if I coulda taken Mikey back to the shell-sub or something. He was really shook up and I was worried he wouldn't be able to handle himself when we get into a fight again. When I asked him if he wanted me to take him home, I was being dead serious. If he'da said 'yes' I woulda taken him to the shell-sub in a heartbeat, if only 'cause I didn't wanna run out on the others myself and couldn't take him the whole way. But at the same time, I'm glad he didn't. It was important he knew that this whole 'doing the right thing' thing came from himself, and not 'cause it's something Master Splinter _made_ us do.

I didn't wanna stay in the tech-room or whatever it was very long. There was no other way outta there apart from the one door and I didn't like the idea of getting cornered. Then again, I was worried about Mike. When he told me what happened to him that night in the park he'd started to shake. I was kinda bothered by this and put my arm around him, but all that that did was freak me out a little more when I realised just how bad he was trembling. I didn't want him trying to fight an armed guard in this condition.

But we couldn't stay in that room. It was a death-trap waiting to happen. I waited for as long as I felt was safe, keeping Mikey close and letting him calm down as much as he could. If he wants to tease me later for acting like a paranoid mother then he's just gonna hafta do that 'cause I wasn't gonna let go of him till I knew he was ok.

Eventually I gave him a squeeze before letting him go, knowing we needed to move. I could hear an alarm outside the door start to blare. There was also some or other computer woman telling the guards there were intruders in the base. Namely us.

Heh. Sorry Leo.

I pulled the chair away from the door, opened it to make sure no-one was waiting outside before I took Mikey by the wrist and lead him out the room. We ran down the hallway, drawing our weapons as he headed in no particular direction.

Damn that Tibalt! Oh just _wait_ till I catch up with _him_! I have a few things I'd like to _discuss_ with that man! How dare he. How _dare_ he act as if his opinion is even worth the dirt on Mike's shoes, as if he wore them! He ain't fit for Mikey to _spit_ on, yet he thinks he can show up and degrade _my _little brother! I know I just gave Mikey the whole speech about doing the right thing and not slipping to the level of these people, but I'll tell ya right now, at this very moment I was _so_ angry I knew that if I ran into that man in this passage I was gonna rip him limb from limb with my bare _hands_ if necessary! How dare he! How _dare_ he!! Mikey is the single most high-spirited person I know in every definition of the word! Hell he practically bounces off the walls regardless of what's happening in our lives at that moment! Then _this_ guy shows up and thinks he can take a giant shit all over that! Oh just wait till I get my hands on him. Just _wait!_

"Raph you're going too fast!" Mikey dragged me back to reality.

In my anger I'd been speeding up my run and he was having trouble keeping up. I slowed, letting him keep pace with me again. He wasn't running his usual speed, like he was tired or something. I don't blame him. I don't blame him at all. Geez Mikey. Why d'ya have to get all deep on us? I wanted so badly for him to tell me what was going on with him so I could tell him whatever that guy said to him was wrong and he'd believe me and get back to normal. But with this I was completely lost to what I could say. I didn't believe what that man had said to Mikey for one second. Yeah he pointed out some bare basic technical "facts" about us and who and what we are, but it'd be insane to think we were still the same things we were before the whole green ooze incident. Whatever happened to us that day changed us more than physically. I mean I _knew_ that! I dunno how to describe it. I just.. I _feel_ it.

I knew we were more than what that mad had said. I knew goody goody Leo was, I knew Brainiac Donny was and I mean you'd be insane not to know wise-man Splinter was. And I knew Mikey was too. I _knew_ it. I mean I can _see_ it!

But this is just stuff I _know_. I can't put it into words and describe it or make sense of it. It's a different kind of knowing. I had no clue how to try and say it out loud, so I didn't know how to explain it to Mikey. I gotta sit down and talk to Master Splinter when we get home and tell him all of this. He needs to talk to Mikey himself. He'll know what to say. He's _gotta_ know.

I skidded around a corner, making sure Mike was sticking with me as I looked around hurriedly.

"Raph look!" Mikey yelled out rather loudly, throwing out a hand to point ahead of us.

On the other end of a large stretch of hallway the passage forked into two directions. There was a large white sheet of metal bolted to the furthest wall ahead of us. On it were printed several plain, grey arrows, at least 20 of them. I couldn't read them from here, but each of the arrows had white writing embossed onto them.

"No way!" I said out loud. I couldn't believe our luck!

"It's a sign-post!" Mikey said excitedly.

Before I could stop him he bolted forward, running towards it eagerly. He was smiling broadly as his whole demeanour brightened up.

"Mikey wait! Not so fast!" I started to trot after him.

He didn't listen, running past the arches of the other passages that led into this one, focused on the directory.

There was a sound loud crack. Mikey stumbled and for the very briefest of moments I felt a rush of blood to my face as fear gripped me. However Mikey spun around hurriedly to see where the noise had come from. He'd merely been startled, not hit. From one of the side-passages a guard suddenly appeared, turned in the direction of Mikey and fired off a large number of rounds at him. Mikey yelped and barely managed to jump out of the way and around a corner of a different side-passage. Two more guards flooded into the hallway, both of them also focused on where Mikey had taken cover. They hadn't seen me yet.

I immediately lunged at them, my sai gripped tightly as I gave a furious yell. I jumped one of them, throwing forward my sai and stabbing it into his side. He screamed loudly, but it was probably aided by shock as he went down. The other two spun to face me, their guns at the ready but Mikey, having seen my attack jumped from his cover and delivered a hard kick to the back of one of the guards' knees, knocking him over. I was about to focus on the last guy when I heard more shots coming from behind me. I turned and saw at least 4 more of them come at us from behind. I twisted around, focusing on them instead and sprinting back the way we had come, flinging both sai forward as I went. One hit a man in the stomach but the other flew long and missed its mark, clattering against the metallic wall and falling to the floor instead. I swore as I jumped, giving one of them a roundhouse kick before flattening myself against the floor to avoid the sudden blast of fire from one of the others.

I shot my leg forward to trip him up but had to abandon that plan when the second gunman still standing tried to hit me and I had to leap backwards and out of the way. Mid-jump I managed to catch a glimpse as to what was happening behind me. On the very far side of the passage several more men had made an appearance and were currently trying to subdue Mikey. The brief second I saw involved Mike giving one of them a very hard blow with his nun-chucks, knocking him out.

I was relieved to see he still had some fight left in him as I focused my attention back on my own attackers. I grabbed the sai that had actually hit one of the men and pulled it free from him. The man responded by giving a painful yell but I ignored him. He wasn't gonna try anything, I could tell. Or if he was he wasn't gonna be able to do much damage before I beat his head in.

I stabbed my weapon forward, catching one of the men's guns between the prongs and twisting it hard, causing the man's arms to cross over themselves before he was forced to either drop the gun or risk breaking his arms. When the gun fell from his grip I grabbed it with my free hand. I had half a mind to shoot and discourage the second man from making a move but, remembering the recent event, opted for throwing it at him instead, smacking him right in the face. He gave an angry cry at this and gave a few meaningless shots. I shot out a foot and caught the man I'd just disarmed in the jaw before I twisted myself around, retrieving my second sai before getting to my feet again and shooting out a fist, slugging the second one and flooring him.

I spun around to the last man still on his feet, ready to give him a finishing blow but froze when I came face to face with a a much smaller muzzle of a gun. He'd had a second weapon tucked away somewhere. Oh boy!

Before I could so much as flinch there was a deafening noise and I instinctively took a small jump back in fright. I breathed heavily, but I felt no sudden pain. The man still had his weapon pointed at me but had twisted his head around to stare wide-eyed at the other side of the passage. I quickly ran my hands over my plastron, patting it and making sure I was still in one piece. There was no wound, the sound hadn't come from his gun.

The noise came again, sharp and piercing. The hallway bled red as lights started to flash all around us, the noise now repeating itself in an evenly timed fashion. It was an alarm. I frowned to myself, twisting my head and risking a quick look around before snapping my attention back to the man in front of me. He was still distracted. I shot forward, grabbing his arm and twisting it, forcing him to drop the weapon. I started when one of the men I'd floored earlier staggered to his feet, grabbing hold of the man that'd received my sai in his gut and hoisting him to his feet.

_Alert. There has been a malfunction in sector 3-11. All personal are to evacuate the base immediately. Repeat..._

The robot voice spoke calmly as the alarm blared and the red light continued to pulse on and off. The men who'd gotten to their feet again were busy making a hasty retreat, away from the passage, completely forgetting about me. The last man pushed himself upright, took a few stumbling steps before he managed to break into a run. There was a sudden blow to the side of my head and I fell to the floor. The man whose arm I had still been gripping had elbowed me in the head, knocking me down before he made a break for it.

_...malfunction in sector 3-11. A fire control environment is now being activated. Please follow the pre-planned escape routes assigned to your section. Repeat..._

I hurriedly jumped to my feet again, spinning around to where Mikey had been. He was standing on the very far side of the hallway, looking around wide-eyed at the blaring alarm and the flashing warning light.

"I think it's time ta get outta here Mike!" I yelled.

He spun to face me. "Not yet! Look!" he pointed at the directory next to him. "We're close to the containment cells!! They're like a stone throw away!!"

I blinked, before I started to run towards him. "Are you serious?!"

"Yeah!" Mikey nodded eagerly, turning and running down the passage that forked to the right. "This way!! It's right down-!"

There was a sudden, loud noise, like something large and metallic shifting before a second alarm started to sound, shriller and slightly faster in pace. It was coming from the passage Mikey had just turned down.

I felt my breath quickened as I sped up. "Mikey!"

I reached the fork with a few last long strides and spun down the passage Mikey had taken, just in time to see a very large, very heavy steel door slam itself shut in front of me with a loud thud.

_...sector 3-11. a fire control environment has now been activated. Please follow the pre-planned..._

I slammed my fists against the metallic door, trying to physically break it down.

"No no _No!!"_ I hit it again as hard as I could, fully aware of the growing pain in my hands as I did so. "_Mikey!"_

"_Raph!"_ I heard him call back. It was faint and difficult to make out with the alarms and that damned electronic voice, but I could hear him.

"Mikey are ya ok?!" I yelled urgently, slamming my fist against the fire door yet again. That time it really hurt however and I clutched my hand, swearing loudly to myself.

"I'm ok!" Mikey's voice called back. I heard a dull thud coming from the other side of the door. "I can't... I can't get it open!"

"_Shit!"_ I kicked the thing as hard as I could.

"Are you alright?!" I heard him call again. He sounded terrified.

"Yeah yeah yeah I'm fine!" I yelled impatiently, moving forward and pressing myself as hard against the door as I could. "Listen, what's it look like that side?!"

There was a short pause during which I tried to calm my breath and clear my head. This was no time to panic. I had to keep my cool. I had to think.

"There's nothing here!" Mikey called. "It's just a normal Hallway!! Like all the others!"

I turned to look over my shoulder, scanning the passage that forked to the left which now stretched out behind me. There was nothing to see, just another plain hallway leading to who knows where. I frowned deeply to myself, dropping my gaze as I tried to think of what we had to do. I raised my head again, turning to look at the directory beside me.

"Raph!" Mikey's voice called. It was sounding more and more panic-stricken. "_Raph!!"_

"I'm still here!" I called hurriedly. I bit my lip, very hard. I took a deep breath, held it for a moment then exhaled. "Mikey Listen! You're gonna hafta keep goin' down that way and find those containment cells!"

"What.. what about you?!" He called back.

My face twisted and my eyes narrowed at this. I knew he wasn't gonna like this, but I swallowed and answered. "I'm goin' the other way! Maybe there's another way ta get that side and we can-!"

"You're _leaving_ me?!" Mikey yelled, his voice unnaturally high.

"Look I ain't got much of a choice!! Just keep goin' and try ta find those cells! I'll catch up with ya!" I called, raising my voice in mock anger.

"No! _No!! Raph I can't do it!!"_ He yelled back. He sounded hysterical. _"I can't do this by myself!! Don't leave me!! Raphie don't leave me alone!!"_

"_Mikey for crying out loud get a grip!!"_ I screamed at him furiously.

No reply came from the other side of the door. I panted heavily for a few moments, staring at the slab of metal in front of me. I swallowed, pressing the side of my face against it, trying to hear what was happening on the other side. I couldn't hear anything though, just the blaring alarm and the calm computer voice, repeating the same message over and over again. I drew a shaky breath, pulling a slight face to myself.

"Mikey?!" I called, unable to stand the silence. "Ya still there?!"

"Y...Yeah! Yeah I'm here!" He replied. His voice sounded shaky and broken.

I gave a short breath before I spoke. "Mikey listen to me! I ain't leavin' ya ok?! But we can't stand here chattin' through a closed door! We gotta keep movin'! I'll go this way and the first chance I get I'll join ya ok?! But I need ya to go down that passage and find those cells! You got it?!"

There was no reply. I waited for a few moments, chewing the inside of my cheek impatiently. When the silence dragged out too long I shook my head.

"Mikey listen! In those cells is Usagi's little boy! Ya hear me?! You just said he ain't that far away! Ya need ta go and find him! It's what we came here for! Usagi's countin' on ya! I swear I'll join ya as fast as I can but ya gotta do this! It'll be fine! The guards are runnin' like roaches! It'll be a cakewalk!"

I waited for a few moments, my hands placed against the cold steel as I tried to make out any noises in response.

"You can do this Mike!" I called. "I know ya can!"

There was a short pause before he finally answered. "A...alright! I... I'll go! But don't take too long ok?!"

I gave a snicker. "Hey! Where am I gonna go?!"

There was another pause and I felt a frown form on my face. "I won't be long! I promise!"

"I'm holding you to that!" Mikey called. He sounded better, more confident.

I felt relieved. "Good luck buddy!"

I pushed away from the wall, turning and moving to run down the opposite passage.

"_Raph!"_ a sharp cry from the other side of the door stopped me and I turned back.

"What?!" I quickly pressed myself against it again. "What is it?!"

For a moment there was nothing before he answered.

"I don't hate you!"

I blinked to myself, taken aback. I felt the corners of my mouth tighten as I smiled.

"I know that!" I called back.

"Don't take too long!" He called. His voice sounded a little fainter. He was starting to leave.

I turned and ran down the opposite passage.

The alarms were still blaring, the woman's voice still loud in my ears as the flashing red lights lit my way. Chaos had erupted in the base. Why I didn't know, but I was hoping it had something to do with Don and the others. Maybe they'd found the portal and shut it down.

The entire place was screaming danger, yet I was smiling to myself as I ran.

**Xxxxx**

_I am fully aware you guys probably want to tar and feather me at this moment ^^; all I can say is... I'm sorry. And I do promise it all comes together at the end... hopefully... if I can pull it off XD;;_


	32. The Fail Safe

_I don't own TMNT or UY._

**Xxxxx**

He weighed so little.

I was use to my brothers who, thanks to the extra bone on our backs, weighed almost double than what a normal person their height would. Master Splinter didn't weigh much at all, but he was much older than we were, so it didn't seem so strange to me. Usagi weighed practically nothing.

Ok, that's not completely true. But when I wrapped my arms around him and lifted him off the floor, I was shocked to find how easy he was to pick up. A strong, fast warrior like him, yet he was so light. In a way it was almost terrifying.

I'd found his swords and slipped them into my belt before I wrapped an arm around his back, slipping the other under his knees and picked him up as quickly as I could. At first I planned to sling him onto my shell but when I realised how easy he was to carry I decided against it, cradling him close to my plastron instead so I could shield him from anything that might fall or hit us. I made sure I had a good hold on him, resting his head in the crook of my neck and folding his arms against his chest so they wouldn't be exposed to any danger before I turned and, as fast as I could manage, made a run for it. I headed for the nearest door leading away from the destruction of the room, the fire, and the swirling portal.

I was panting hard, mostly in panic, as I ran. The passage outside the large room had also been affected by the blast. The circular lights in the ceiling seemed to have all burst their light-bulbs so that the only light was the slow flashing alarm, making the area switch back and forth between complete darkness and deep red. A robot voice was giving calm instructions on how the residence in the base needed to evacuate but it meant little to me. I could still hear the howling from the terrible machine as well as feel the rumble of energy in the floor.

Once I was a safe distance away I looked around frantically, trying to figure what to do and where to go.

Donny. I needed to get to Donny. I had to make sure he was ok. I spun around and started heading back to the elevator we'd used to get down here. I knew using the thing in a situation like this was the single most stupidest thing I could do, but I had to get to Donatello.

I coughed. The smoke was getting thick in the air. I needed to get away from here. I needed to get Usagi away and to a safe place. He hadn't so much as twitched in all this time, remaining limp and still in my arms. I was scared.

I turned a corner and was just about to run down the passage when I saw a figure running the opposite direction towards me. In a split second I froze in my tracks and raised my shoulders aggressively.

"_Back off!!"_ I barked at the approaching figure, hugging Usagi a little tighter against me.

The figure faltered slightly, slowing its run. "Leo... Leo it's me! It's Don!"

I blinked a few times. "Donny?"

I straightened again and ran towards him. "Don are you ok?!"

I could barely make out him nodding. "I'm fine! When I saw that thing was gonna blow I took cover behind the control panel! But what about you?! You were right there, are you-?!"

He swallowed his sentence when I came closer, and remained silent.

I stopped in front of him, taking a few long, hard breaths.

"L... Leo." He stammered. "Oh... oh no.. ...He's... Is he...?"

"I don't know!" I snapped. "I Don't... I haven't had a chance to check!"

"O.. Ok..." Donny took a quivering breath. I saw him twist his head and look around quickly. "Ok. We need to get away from here."

I nodded, turning and heading back the other way. "Come on!"

We ran the entire way. Through the dark red passages, not paying any attention to where we were heading exactly as long as it was far away from that portal and the fire and the smoke. After a while, the passage started to light up again, the lights in the ceiling not having been damaged by the blast. The red light was still flashing, even here, but we could see better. I was getting tired. I needed to stop and catch my breath, but there was no way I could. I couldn't stop. Not now.

"Here!" Donny suddenly said, turning and running towards one of the doors.

I don't know why he decided it would make a good place to take cover, whether he actually had a way of discerning it was safe or if he'd merely noticed I was running out of fuel. But whatever his reason, I trusted him and followed.

He wrenched open the door, beckoning me inside quickly before he shut it behind me. The room inside was deserted. I guess the people who worked in the base had all made a run for it and left. At least that meant we didn't have to deal with guns any more. Thank heaven for small mercies.

The room was clean and white, it was another work station almost identical to the one we'd used when we first broke into this place. I felt so disorientated that for a moment I wondered if it was the exact same room, but there were small, personal differences that told me it wasn't. No post-it notes on the wall, and there was no coffee machine. Whoever had been using the room had obviously left in a hurry, there were papers scattered everywhere.

"Quick, over here!" Donny said, motioning to the couch.

I nodded and hurried towards it. I crouched down and, as gently as I could, lay the samurai down on it, making sure to be careful with him as I didn't know how badly he was hurt. I was afraid I might've done more damage in picking him up, but I'd had no choice. My guts felt like they were tearing each other apart.

Please don't be dead. I don't know what I'd do if you were dead.

Donny crouched to his knees quickly, putting his duffle-bag down before leaning forward and checking him over, his face furrowed in concentration. First thing he did was grip Usagi's wrist tightly in one of his hands, putting the other to his chest. He shut his eyes and stayed still, feeling for a pulse. I didn't dare breathe, waiting.

Don's shoulders dropped a little. "He's alive."

I gave a long sigh, sinking in place. "Oh thank God."

I was so relieved for a brief second I felt almost light-headed. Thank God.

Donny let go of his wrist and started looking for any serious injuries he might have. Usagi wasn't responding to the physical contact. His normally white fur had been darkened in patches by smoke and dust. Small tufts of it stood at odd angles. One of his kimono sleeves had come undone and had been badly torn, but I saw no blood. Donny was busy pulling the garment open at the chest, making sure there were no wounds hidden by the material. I didn't like seeing my friend in this condition. It chilled me.

"How's he look?" I asked after a while. My voice sounded hoarse and shaky to me.

"No broken bones." Donny said. "I don't see any open wounds or burns, but by the looks of it he took a hard blow to the head."

"Is he gonna be ok?" I couldn't stop myself from asking.

Donny thought for few moments before he gave a nod. "Yeah."

I frowned. "You hesitated."

Don turned and gave me a very hard stare. "He's going to be ok Leo. He's just knocked out. I swear."

I glared at him, a deep frown on my face. He stared right back at me, not breaking eye contact, his expression not even flickering.

I sighed and backed off. "Alright. I believe you."

He gave a nod, relaxing and turning to face me properly. "Now you."

I blinked. "Now me what?"

He unzipped his bag and started digging around inside. He motioned towards my head, looking at me with soft concern in his eyes. "You're bleeding."

I frowned lightly, reaching up to the side of my head and feeling around. It had been pounding ever since I regained my senses, but I'd been unaware of actually being hurt. I'd been too focused on getting Usagi to safety and getting away from the danger. My fingers detected liquid a little further back ad I stopped, flinching at a sudden dull ache.

"Don't touch it!" Donny snapped commandingly.

I quickly pulled my hand away, curling it into a fist and placing it on my knee.

He pulled out his first aid kit, opened it up and went about getting something ready to clean the wound with. While he did so I took the opportunity to look him over. I was still worried he might have been hurt himself and was merely hiding it. He looked a lot better than me and Usagi did though. I noticed some small shards of Plexiglas had gotten stuck between the ridges of his carapace but they weren't imbedded in or anything like that. Other than that he seemed perfectly fine. I was relieved.

He turned and leaned towards me. "Turn your head please."

I did as I was told. I felt a sharp stab of pain as something artificially cold was pressed to my skin and I winced, taking a suck of air through my teeth.

"Hold still." Donny said.

"Sorry." I replied.

For a few moments we sat in silence, sharp spasms of pain running through me as Don cleaned the cut before turning and pulling out something to patch it up with and stop the bleeding.

"So, will I live?" I said, turning my eyes to look at him while trying to keep my head still.

He merely nodded. He looked deeply troubled and for a moment I felt worried for myself. I quickly realised his expression had nothing to do with me though. I swallowed, turning my eyes to look back to where Usagi was lying on the couch. In the stillness of the room I could just make out his chest rise and fall as he breathed. I turned my eyes back to Donny.

"Don... is something wrong?" I asked carefully.

"Of course something's wrong!" Donny said, rather aggressively. He was keeping his eyes focused on the side of my head as he tended to the gash. "Leo what the heck are we gonna do now?!"

I flinched, quickly turning my eyes away from him and to the floor.

"I mean I... I knew I could've stopped that thing! I just needed some more time! If that stupid Tibalt guy hadn't shown up I would've been able to shut the whole thing down and we could've been on our way home already! Instead, here we are and everything's blown up in our faces, quite literally I might add, and we have nowhere we can go from here! Most of the controls for that thing were destroyed when it blew up! There's no way for me to do _anything_ now! I mean what are we gonna do?!"

"Hey hey." I turned my head to face him properly, "Calm down."

He shook his head, biting his lip and sinking. "Leo.. the two of you almost got _killed!_ I.. I mean I was standing there and I was _trying_ to work as fast as I could but... but I saw Tibalt activate the machine! I tried to override his command but nothing I did seemed to have any affect on it! I.. I heard it overload and I.. I knew it was gonna blow but I had no way to warn you! I threw myself behind the control panel and.. and the whole window just imploded over me!" He looked up at me again. "And when I stood up you... You were... You weren't moving!! I.. I panicked!! You..."

I blinked wide-eyed at him before I snapped out of it. I put a hand on his shoulder comfortingly. "It's ok Don. We're ok."

He nodded, shutting his eyes tightly. "I.. I know but... Leo what on earth are we going to do? We... we need to stop that thing. We _need_ to stop that thing but I.. I have no idea how. I can't think of anything that won't involve us getting killed! I just..." He gave an aggravated sigh, putting his hands to his head. "I just don't know what to do..."

I pulled a grim face, lowering my gaze as I thought this over. Donny was right. We needed to do something. We needed to stop that portal from working. Suddenly, this had all spun completely out of control. So much so that I wasn't even entirely sure where we stood any more. Bishop was no longer the threat. This Tibalt, or more specifically whoever Tibalt was working for had now become the front most centre focus of my attention. When I first heard there was some-one else involved in all of this I'd been worried that it would mean trouble for us, but never would I have imagined anything like this. Some-one.. or some _thing_ from another dimension, trying to get _here_. It wasn't some-one who wanted to use the machine as a weapon against far off planets or other dimensions, this was some-one who was trying to get _here_ to _our_ world. And whoever, or whatever it was, it seemed to need a vast amount of energy to make the crossing.

When I'd woken up there'd been no sign of either Bishop or Tibalt anywhere. I didn't know if they'd made a run for it while I was unconscious or if they'd perhaps been swallowed by the portal when it burst open or if they'd merely been killed in the explosion. There'd also been no sign of anything _else_ in the room either. No other person or creature or being that might have used the portal to enter our world. The portal had still been open and unleashing blasts of energy when I woke up. I had a feeling whatever was trying to get through hadn't done so yet. Although this could be seen as a good thing, it scared me. What kind of being exactly, needed that much energy and that much time to travel between dimensions? I didn't know. All I knew was we had to stop it. Somehow.

I sighed and rested my head on one of my hands. How? How do we stop this thing? Perhaps if we demolished the base itself somehow we could destroy the portal as well before anything has the chance to cross over. How would we do that though? Explosives? Where would we get them? Could we flood the place? Would that even work? I put my other hand to my head as well. I didn't know. I just didn't know. But we had to do _something_. And... and there was still Jotaro. We still needed to rescue him too. And we needed to regroup with Raph and Mikey. How on Earth were we gonna do all this?

"Leo?" Donny's voice sounded almost like it was coming from far away.

I lifted my head out of my hands, turning to look at him again.

He was staring at me, concern heavy on his face. I sighed, straightening up a little.

"I don't know Donny... We're in way over our heads here." I gave a tight exhale. "I have no idea what to do either."

Donny took a deep breath, turning away from me and looking at Usagi instead. There was a pause during which we said nothing, each trying to sort out our thoughts, trying to come up with some kind of plan.

"....Firstly..." Donny said eventually, turning back to me. "We need to get Usagi somewhere safe. We're still too close to the portal here."

I pulled a face and nodded. "Yeah." I sighed and turned to face Don. "Yeah, that's first priority." I pulled my legs out from under me and moved to get up. "Next, we need to find Raph and Mikey."

Donny nodded. "If we're exceptionally lucky and they have Jotaro with them, then one of us can get him and Usagi to the shell-sub and wait."

I nodded again. "Sounds good. The rest of us can head back to the portal and see if there isn't some way we can destroy it." I gave Don a weak shrug. "Not a very good plan."

"It's the best one we got though." He said, giving me a shaking smile.

I made a noise to myself, turning to look at where my friend still lay unconscious on the couch. I took a deep breath. "Ok."

I walked closer, moving to pick him up again. "Let's move."

"Do.. Do you want me to carry him?" Donny said, looking back and forth between me and Usagi. "I mean you had a pretty bad knock yourself and I'm..."

I shook my head as I lifted him. "I got him Don."

Donny gave me an unhappy look but nodded, closing his bag before putting it around his shoulders and getting up again himself. I waited as he walked to the door, opening it and making sure the coast was clear before he motioned for me to follow. I nodded, exiting after him, making sure I had a firm hold on Usagi. He felt warm against me. I took it as a good sign, but I still felt my nerves in tatters as to whether he really was alright or not.

"You sure he's ok?" I asked Don as he lead the way.

Donny nodded, turning to look me in the eye. "Positive."

I nodded, satisfied. "Ok then. Just checking."

----

We moved at a brisk walk down the passage, Don leading the way. I wasn't entirely sure where he was taking us, whether he actually knew or if he was merely guessing based on what he could remember, but either way I knew he wouldn't let us down. We didn't even bother practising our stealth. The only time we came across any people was when a small group of guards ran past one of the arches where the passages connected together. We'd flattened ourselves against a wall, waiting until the last if them had disappeared around a corner before he started to move again, Donny led us in the opposite direction. I wasn't sure if the guards had seen us or not, it wasn't like we'd been properly hidden or anything, but they seemed completely unconcerned with us. It was a giant relief to know that, for the most part, no-one seemed to care about us running around the base any more as long as we stayed out of the way and didn't pose a threat.

We'd been walking for quite a while before we turned a corner, and came face to face with a large metallic door blocking our way.

"Oh no." Don said, hurrying forward and putting his hands against it, looking it over.

I frowned deeply at it, coming to a stop. "What is it?"

Donny made an irritable noise. "It's a fire-door." He rapped his knuckles against it before backing off a little. "They must have this whole sector locked off to control the area."

"But there are still people running around here!" I said, not liking this development at all. "How are they getting out?!"

"They must have separate passages or something." Donny turned back to me. The fact that he didn't seem anxious, merely slightly annoyed, made me feel better.

I grumbled softly. "So how do we get out?"

Donny sighed, turning and walking back the way we'd come. "Lemme find a computer. It shouldn't be too hard to override the security system."

I nodded, turning to follow after him.

He turned to look back at me. "We're in the chronologist sector. This whole area is devoted to recording data regarding the portal and its progress, there should be a computer station around every corner."

He turned to the nearest door and pushed it open cautiously, looking inside with a frown. He closed it again and crossed the hallway to the one on the opposite side, doing the same thing. He pushed the second door open and slipped inside, turning to look back at me. I nodded and followed after him, entering the room and looking around.

This one was in the same genre as the last room, but it was much smaller and less important looking. There was only one desk for one thing, and no couch. Just the computer station and a small armchair. Whoever had been using this office was clearly not getting paid as much as the office of the last person.

Donny quickly sat himself at the computer as I sat down against a wall, taking the time to make sure Usagi was still alright.

He seemed ok. There was a soft frown on his face and I could see him twitch his whiskers faintly. I hoped it meant he was coming 'round. It unnerved me to see him like this. That and I was still worried sick about him. I needed to see with my own eyes that he was alright before I'd feel better about it.

I sat in silence, waiting for a few minutes as Donny moved his fingers over the keyboard hurriedly, staring hard at the screen as he worked. After a short period of time I heard a dull thud from outside and the sudden, rather jarring silence as the constant alarm stopped. Donny rotated in his chair before getting up, giving me a small, proud smile.

"Nothing to it." He said, leaning forward and helping me get to my feet carefully.

"Good job Don." I praised him. "Now let's get outta here."

He nodded, leading the way out of the room as we started moving again.

Outside, the large fire-door had opened, allowing us to keep going down the passage and in whatever direction Don thought was best. The deep silence of the hallways was unsettling to me. With the alarm and the electronic voice turned off I became aware of just how deserted this entire place had become. I knew this was a good thing, but at the same time it really drove the point home that things have really, _really_ gone wrong.

We walked in silence, looking around every corner and archway. I was trying to form some kind of mental map of the area, although I was having a very hard time doing so. Everything looked the same to me.

And there was still no sign of Raph or Mikey.

I felt movement against me and I came to a halt, my gaze snapping downwards.

"_Itai...."_

I blinked and felt a smile break out on my face, relief washing over me.

"Don! Don wait up a moment!" I called, crouching to my knees.

Donny turned back to me with a puzzled expression. When he saw what I was doing he turned and quickly walked closer.

Usagi raised a hand to his head and gave a long groan, pulling an almost annoyed looking face. He gave his head a soft shake before he opened his eyes, blinking a few times in the light.

I watched him closely, taking note of every movement to make sure there were no signs of trouble.

"Hey." I greeted him gently.

He blinked at me with a confused expression before he turned to look around, trying to see where he was.

"Welcome back to the land of the living." I said, letting him go as he pushed himself to a sitting position, rubbing at his eyes. I kept one of my hands on his back, keeping my gaze locked on him.

"We are not dead then." He said bluntly. His voice sounded scratchy.

I nodded. "No. Not yet anyway."

"How d'you feel?" Donny asked with concern, sitting down on his knees and reaching out, taking Usagi by the chin before squinting at his face, checking his eyes.

Usagi blinked at him, a little confused but he didn't move. "In all honesty not so well, but I believe I am alright. My head hurts a great deal but I do not think I am badly injured."

"Mmm." Donny nodded, letting him go. "I'll be the judge of that. But I agree, you're ok for the moment." He relaxed and gave Usagi a smile. "Don't start running around too soon though ok? You're probably gonna feel a little loopy for a while."

Usagi nodded for a second but stopped, flinching and putting a hand to his head again.

"I was knocked out in the eruption I believe." He turned to blink at me, frowning slightly as he tried to focus. "How long have I been passed out?"

I shook my head, keeping my eyes fixed on him. I was trying to hide the extent of my relief that he was awake and talking. I didn't want him thinking he was badly hurt, or that I had over-reacted to his injury. "Not that long." I answered his question. "You haven't missed much. We've just been trying to get you to safety before we decided what to do next."

Usagi nodded, turning to stare at the ground thoughtfully. A deep frown formed on his face and I saw him tense up, taking a sharp breath as he looked up again, his eyes widening.

"The Machine! What has happened to it?!" He asked urgently.

I pulled a face at this, a lighter frown settling on my own face.

"It opened the portal." Donny said. "It's currently still going, but it's out of control. It just about destroyed the whole room and most of the passages nearest to it. People are evacuating the whole area."

"But then it is still open to wherever this demon's superior is?!" He asked, turning to Donny instead.

Don sighed and nodded. "Yeah..." He gave Usagi an apologetic expression. "We had to get away and decide what to do next. There's nothing we could've done to shut it down at that moment."

Usagi made an irritable noise to himself, frowning hard to the floor before he shifted, moving to get up. "We must go back."

I blinked at him, quickly getting to my feet as well, Donny following suit. "We need to get you somewhere safe first. You hit your head pretty hard."

He swayed slightly when he was upright and I found myself instinctively putting my hands on his shoulders to steady him. He ran a hand over his face, breathing out.

"No. No it will only waste time. Besides I do not feel too badly hurt. I will be able to regain my senses if I walk a little."

I frowned and made a noise at him. "You'll get yourself killed Usagi."

He shook his head, turning to look at me again, his eyes becoming more focused. "I will be fine. I have had to function with injuries much more grievous than this." He smiled at me. "Trust in me Leonardo, I would not needlessly put myself in danger. Especially not if it meant I would be a hindrance to you."

I bit my lip, my frown breaking as I stared at him with concern.

"....You really scared me for a while back there." I said, my voice a little smaller than before.

His smile dropped and he blinked at me for a moment. I felt his shoulder sink as he gave me a guilt-ridden look. "I am sorry my friend. I did not mean to worry you."

I sighed, shaking my head and letting go of him. "It's not your fault. I just... I was really scared for a while."

He smiled again, more affectionately this time. "I am all right Leonardo. I have suffered and survived much worse."

I nodded, smiling back slightly. "Yeah. Likewise I guess."

"Are you sure you'll be ok?" Donny interrupted, staring at Usagi with a hard frown.

He nodded again, straightening his posture a little. "I am sure."

Donny nodded, turning to me. "Ok then. But... what do we do now?"

I pulled a face, I really wasn't sure to be honest.

"We must head back and face whatever will be coming through that portal." Usagi said when he saw I wasn't answering.

I turned to him, giving a nod. "Yeah but... how do we destroy the portal?"

"_Without_ getting killed." Donny added.

Usagi thought for a moment. "I do not know." He shook his head. "But even if we are unable to, we must still prevent what ever is trying to invade your world from leaving this fortress. If we can devise a way to destroy the machine then all the better, but our concern should be with the being using it, not the device itself."

I blinked before giving a nod. "Good advice." I smiled again. "_That_ I can cope with."

Don nodded in agreement. "Here's hoping whatever's coming through that thing is something we can handle."

I nodded again, turning to head back, making sure they were following. "We won't know until we get there."

Donny sighed and nodded in return, moving to follow after me.

"Wait wait!" Usagi said, sounding alarmed.

I froze and turned to him. "What's wrong?"

He was scanning the floor with an almost panicked expression. "My _Daisho!_ They are not on my person!"

I breathed out, pulling his swords free from my belt and handing them over. "Relax. I held onto them for safe keeping."

He gave a sigh of relief, taking them and tucking them in his _obi_ before shooting me a slight glare. "Do not frighten me like that!"

I pulled a face at him. "That's my line."

----

We were heading back the way we'd come. Donny leading the way as I kept pace with Usagi, not bothering to be surreptitious about keeping an eye on him, making sure he really was as alright as he said he was.

He was walking fine though, his stride the same as always and his eyes focused and clear. I was finally accepting that he was indeed ok and turned to focus on where we were going instead.

We needed to face whatever was coming through that portal before it had a chance to slip by us and out of the base. Who knows what sort of creature it was or what kind of damage it could do if it got out into the city. If Mikey were here he'd be saying 'It's gonna go Godzilla on our shells!'.

The thought came first as a comfort, but the reality of the situation we were in made me feel slightly crushed. Where were Mikey and Raph? I prayed they were still alright, wherever they were. I saw no reason for them to not be as the last I heard, the alarm for intruders had still been going before the portal blew, and I knew for a fact they were nowhere near the area to be in danger, and with the base being evacuated no guards were gonna bother with them now. But I so badly wanted to find them and have our little group as one unit again. Of course it would make facing whatever was coming through the portal easier to handle between the 5 of us, but there was more to it than that.

Despite the fact that he seemed to be doing ok, the incident with Usagi had rocked me to my core. I won't lie, I'd been terrified. I'd been absolutely, heart-stoppingly terrified. The very idea of one of my friends or family being hurt was unbearable to me, but having to have faced it head on like that had given me a bad scare and I was still reeling from it a little. It hadn't been the first time I'd had to face the possibility that some-one I cared about had been killed, but if you're thinking that had made it easier this time then you couldn't be more wrong. You don't get use to a scare like that. You just don't. It reminded me of when I'd come back from Japan, only to find my home in ruins and my family missing. The memory of finding out that they'd supposedly been murdered by Karai stung just as strongly now as it did that night on April's roof. You don't get use to a scare like that.

I needed to know Raph and Mikey were ok. So yes, my reasons for wanting to regroup were completely selfish but I didn't care. I needed us all together again. My only comfort, the one single comfort I could give myself, was that they may be freeing Jotaro at this moment.

Jotaro. The thought of the boy made something in my head click and I focused back on the here and now, turning to look at the samurai once again.

"Usagi." I said.

He rolled his eyes and turned to face me as we walked. "Leonardo, believe me I am deeply touched by your concern but I assure you, you do not need to inspect me every second moment."

I blinked at him. "What? Oh! Oh no no no, this is nothing like that. I wanted to check something with you."

His smile dropped and he gave me a more serious expression. "What is it?"

In front of us, Donny half-turned to hear what the conversation was about.

"I was thinking... Whatever is coming through that gate has no personal interest in you or our dimension now. Perhaps you should go and look for Jotaro." I gave him a concerned look. "We've been doing nothing but focusing on this damned portal... and all you've wanted to do was rescue your son. This doesn't directly involve you any more. You have no obligation to come with us."

I sighed, coming to a stop. Usagi stopped as well, Donny turning to face the both of us.

"I'm not just saying this 'cause I don't want you to face whatever this thing is or because you were hurt. It's just... this isn't fair to you." I pulled a sour expression. "It's not fair to you at all."

Usagi stared at me for a few moments before he sighed. "I thought we already had this discussion."

I pulled a face to myself, knowing the answer which was going to follow that statement.

"I will not leave." He said.

I sighed. "You really won't.. will you?"

He shook his head. "No. I will not."

I nodded miserably.

"Uh... guys?" Donny suddenly spoke up. His tone of voice didn't fit the mood at all. It sounded shaky and excitable. "Uhm... I hate to interrupt but... we got company!"

I turned to face him with a frown.

I nearly fell over when I saw the figure in the black coat walking calmly towards us from the other end of the passage. I'd been so focused on Usagi I hadn't heard him at all.

"Great." I said bitterly, reaching back and pulling my swords free. "That's _exactly_ what we need right now!"

Bishop came to a stop when I drew my weapons, staring at us hard. I heard Usagi unsheathe his own swords as Donny took a few steps back to stand beside me, raising his staff aggressively, glaring pure poison at the man.

So Bishop was still alive. That's just fantastic. I took some satisfaction in the fact that he's looked better though. His sunglasses were gone and there was a cut on the side of his face. His coat was also torn near the base and I noticed he had something that looked like a nasty burn on one of his hands, the sleeve ripped open. Apart from that I could see several minor bruises and an over-all tattered appearance. Then again for some-one who'd been caught in an explosion he didn't look half bad.

He narrowed his eyes slightly at us as we readied ourselves for an attack. None came.

I growled lightly to myself. "We don't have time for this Bishop! Let us pass!"

He frowned at me, his hands clenching into fists. "And what exactly is it that you're preparing to do?"

His tone of voice was blunt and levelled.

"What we _always_ do!" I yelled back. "Clean up one of _your_ messes!"

He glared at us, not making any kind of move. "You are planning to go back to the Gateway then."

"What are we suppose to do?!" Donny called. "_You _obviously don't have any plans to stop it yourself! Your men are running like rabb-" He stopped himself, stuttering. "What... what I mean is your men are evacuating! No-one's staying to clean all this up! So That doesn't give us much of a choice does it?!"

I nodded. "Just step aside Bishop! We don't need you slowing us down while whatever that thing is breaks through that portal! Even _you_ should be able to understand _that!_"

"And how exactly are you three planning to stop a giant inter-dimensional gateway in a destroyed control room with 4 swords and a staff between you?" He answered, gritting his teeth slightly.

"That is none of your concern." Usagi spoke up, his voice more controlled than me and Don's as he glared at the man with one of his signature soldier-glares.

"If you want we'll send you a postcard explaining it! Just let us through!" I said.

"In other words, you have no plan." Bishop said.

I growled softly at this, gritting my teeth but I had nothing I could reply with.

"We'll think of something, no need to worry about us!" Donny retorted.

"It's not You I'm worried about Donatello!" Bishop snapped angrily.

"Oh of course not!" I said bitterly. "You're worried about the city and your damned reputation!"

"You may have nothing but resentment towards me Leonardo, but you must admit that worrying about the city and what this could mean isn't exactly immoral." Bishop said, calming down again. "And if the three of you enter that room and try to face whatever is trying to worm its way here without any sort of plan or weapon other than your crude swords then I'm afraid I have a lot of reason to worry."

"Yeah well it's the best we've got!" I called back.

He shook his head at this. "No as a matter of fact. There is a way we can put a stop to this and lessen the chances of you getting killed by a small fraction."

My frown deepened a little at this as I stared at him. "What are you saying Bishop?"

"We may not exactly be on the best of terms Leonardo," He crossed his hands behind his back. "but I think we can both agree that whatever is coming through that Gateway will threaten the city and possibly the Earth itself. That's something neither of us want. However, I need to evacuate the base and report to my superiors immediately. They need to alert the military to be at the ready should this spin out of control. However if this can all be stopped before heavy firepower is needed it will not only help me save face, but it will also mean that I can prevent the military from moving in and collecting... certain samples from my biological division as evidence."

I felt my expression harden at this but kept myself from saying what was on my mind.

"What exactly is it you are proposing?" Usagi asked, narrowing his eyes at the man as his grip on his swords tightened.

"Simply this." Bishop uncrossed his arms, pulling his coat open slightly and reaching inside an inner pocket. I tensed, raising my swords a little, Donny widening his stance beside me as Usagi made a slight noise.

Bishop didn't seem to even notice, pulling out a small electronic device and holding it up. It looked a bit like a computer circuit board, but there were enough differences so that even I could tell that wasn't exactly what it was.

I didn't relax my stance, frowning at it. "And what is that exactly?"

Bishop lowered it again. "It's a fail-safe device. I had thought it would be in my best interest to have a small division of my men develop a way to stop this project if it got out of hand. Mr. Tibalt had no knowledge of its construction or its inclusion in the Gateway's design. I'd had it stored away for safe keeping until the time should come that I may need it." His expression hardened slightly. "It seems my paranoia was well justified."

"And I suppose you expect _us_ to risk our necks getting it to that portal while you make a clean getaway?" I spat at him.

"Let me put it this way Leonardo. What choice do you have?" He replied.

I made a low, rumbling noise in the back of my throat, focusing every inch of hate I felt for this man into my face. It made me sick to my stomach but he was right. This was the best chance we had at this moment, even if it meant letting Bishop dump on us to do his dirty work while he ran away with his tail between his legs. Besides what else could we do?

My expression must have given away my thoughts because a cold smile appeared on his face. "I'm glad we understand each other."

"Wait a minute!" Don interrupted irritably. "When that thing exploded it took most of the room with it! Where exactly are we suppose to find a working control station to plug that thing into?!"

"As astute as ever Donatello." Bishop turned to him. "But you neededn't worry. I couldn't very well have the input socket in plain sight for Mr. Tibalt to notice. It's located at the base of the portal itself, on the left side near the back."

"Oh I'm so glad I don't need to worry." Donny said sarcastically. "That just means we're gonna have to get close to the swirling vortex of _death_ to activate it!"

"You will also need a numerical code to unlock its security program." Bishop said. "Normally the control panels themselves would be sufficient enough, but seeing as they've been destroyed, I'm afraid you'll have to be a little creative."

"Great." I growled at him. "Anything _else_ you might have forgotten?!"

"I believe that is it." Bishop said, walking forward and holding the small device out at Arm's length. Donny reached out and snatched it away from him quickly, never taking his eyes off the man's face.

"The code to unlock it is 9942622" He said. "Try not to forget it. Now if you'll pardon me, I have a meeting to get to."

He turned his back to us and started walking away. I wanted nothing more than to throw my sword at his retreating shoulder-blades, but restrained myself.

"Oh, one last thing Leonardo." He stopped and turned back slightly. "Mr. Tibalt survived the explosion, but I haven't seen any trace of him since. I would watch my step if I were you."

He then turned back to the front and calmly marched away, not bothering to give us a second glance.

"I believe I now understand your resentment Leonardo." Usagi said with a low, furious growl. "I find him a most dislikable man."

**Xxxxx**

_If Usagi can do full-out battle with his head split open by a sword then he sure as hell can survive a little bump on the noggin =P_


	33. Jotaro

_I don't own TMNT or UY._

_*insert dramatic music here*_

**Xxxxx**

Aw man! This was just great! What else could go wrong?! I'm such an idiot! Why did I run ahead like that?! I shoulda waited for Raph! Now I was all alone in this creepy place and I only had myself to blame. Jeez what a loser!

Of course I had to make it worse my acting like a total spazz when Raph said we needed to split up! I mean, what did I expect us to do? There was a giant block of metal between us! What, did I expect Raph and me to just wait around till it decided it was gonna move by itself? Oh yeah _that_ would've been a good idea! Sheesh. What was my deal anyway? I've done mission in freaky places by myself before! I've faced all kinds of uglies on my own! This wasn't anything new for me, and yet here I was acting like a 5 year old who'd lost his parents on Coney Island or something! Why was this getting to me so bad?

Because I knew _that_ mad was around here somewhere. That's why. It's like he's become my own personal bogeyman or something. I was expecting at every corner for him to jump out and point at me going 'Haha! You're just a stupid turtle! Go back to your pet store!'. Or something like. Heck I wasn't even sure what I thought he would do to me if I ran into him. I mean I already knew he could easily put me outta commission permanently, but that was nothing new for me. For some reason, there are a _lot_ of people who want to kill us. This dude wasn't the first guy to come close to doing it either. In fact I've had closer calls than the one I had with him. So why was this different? He's already said what he could say to me too. I knew his little stand-up routine as far as who or what I was already. There wasn't much more he could add to his little speech that could make me feel any worse. So why was I so scared? I don't even know.

All I knew was that I really hated being alone in this place. It was confusing, twisted, and claustrophobic. Not to mention in the horror movies its always when the hot teenagers get split up that some-one gets killed. And it was usually the cutest one who died first too! I'm doomed!

I swallowed, looking around as I ran, trying to see if I could figure out if I was still going the right way somehow. I was cracking jokes to myself but, I really was scared. I wish Raph or Leo or Donny were here. Any of them would make me feel better right now.

The hallway I was running down didn't have anything different going for it than the others had. It was long, was lit from above and below and the stupid alarm and robot lady were still talking to themselves and giving me a headache. Every now and then I passed a door, and I would stop, quickly opening it to see if it led to the cells or something that might tell me where to look for them. None of them had, but I kept finding clues that I was on the right track. Not very pleasant clues, but clues nonetheless. One door had led to something like a chemistry lab or something. It was all super clean and had all these complicated instruments, some of which were sharp and made of steel and looked more like knives than anything else to me. I didn't like the smell of the place. It smelled like battery acid and fire-lighters. I moved on. Another door led to something like a store-room full of floating things in glass jars. I quickly closed it and kept going. I didn't bother taking a good look at what the things in jars were exactly or where they came from. 'Jotaro wasn't in there' I told myself. He just _wasn't_.

The rooms kept getting creepier and I was starting to get a little freaked out. I found one room that made me think of a dentist's office, like I'd seen on TV. But seeing as this building wasn't exactly a health clinic, I knew they were probably doing more than cleaning whatever specimens they had's teeth. I didn't go inside that room. The next room looked like a computer control station or something, but there was this really big glass tube in the middle of it filled with liquid. I thought I saw something floating in it but I quickly shut the door before I got a good look. I didn't wanna see.

I kept going, making sure not to turn down any side passages or hallways, sticking to this main one as the arrow labelled 'specimen containment area' had pointed directly down it and I didn't think they'd keep such an important room at the end of a side passage.

I didn't see any guards or scientists or doctors or anything like that anywhere. There were no people around at all. I didn't like this. It was really creeping me out. Even if I ran across some-one who wanted to kick my butt I'd feel a lot better than to just have this never-endingness of nothing. It felt like I was walking through a shipwreck or something. As if something terrible had happened here. Dammit Raph where are you?! You said you weren't gonna take long!

Then again... I wasn't sure he was gonna find any other passages that led here. He said he was gonna try but the more I thought about it the less sense it made to me that any of them would be open. The one side passage I'd run down couldn't be the only hallway leading to this part of the base, and I mean what would be the point of just using one door to keep a fire contained right? It didn't make sense. No, I had a good hunch that I was pretty much all by myself here and I shouldn't wait for Raph to show up and make me feel better. It was up to me. It's all me baby! I gotta step up and show my stuff! I'm gonna represent here! I'm gonna rejoin the others the conquering hero! Ugh. Why didn't that make me feel better at all? I don't wanna be a hero! Why can't I be the guy who runs away screaming instead? At least I know _he_ usually lives!

I tried to forget about Raph and being alone and focused on moving instead. If I focus on what I'm doing right here and now I don't need to focus on the reality of me being by myself in this giant ghost town of a base.

I opened another door. The room behind it was very dark. There were controls and screens lining every inch of the walls, from floor to ceiling. Every control panel had an extensive amount of buttons and knobs and gizmos on it. There wasn't room to put so much as a coffee mug down. The screens in the room were the only sources of light, casting an abrasive orange glow over everything. They all displayed something different, but none of it made any sense to me. There were lines which were drawing themselves across a grid. Some of the others had a vast amount of numbers flooding upwards along the screen all matrix style. Some of them just kept repeating a sequence of letters over and over while others had this weird, sonar-like graphic that kept changing and shifting. The room was deserted, but the low humming of machines mixed with soft, calm beeps and ticks gave off the impression of people moving and monitoring the various read-outs. Professionally and businesslike. Tbut there was no-one here now, the machines abandoned to continue doing their work dutifully, displaying their information happily and eagerly to no-one.

I shuddered, stepping out of the room and closing the door. I dunno why, but I found the environment haunting, and I didn't like it. I turned and left, heading to see, reluctantly, what the next door lead to.

I walked a long way. The passage had several hallways leading from it on my left, but the wall on my right remained blank and unbroken. A bitter taste was growing in my mouth. Maybe I'd walked too far. Maybe I'd missed it somehow. I felt like I'd passed the door somehow, although I knew I'd checked every single one of them. Maybe the containment cells were at one of the ends of the passages that led out from this main one after all and I'd missed it. This felt too far.

I swallowed, my tongue feeling too thick for my mouth. I felt my pace slowing and my legs get heavy as I felt the urge to turn around. This had to be too far. But my gut told me to keep going. Don't second guess yourself now, stick to your guns and keep going.

But I couldn't keep going non stop like this. I'd be walking forever. I stopped, thinking for a while.

After a few minutes I made a decision; I would wait and see if another door shows up, I'll check it and if there's still no sign of the containment cells I'll turn around and trace my steps back and check the side passages instead. Just going forward pointlessly like this was only wasting time, and I was getting further and further away from Raph.

I really wished the shell cells were working.

I kept walking, feeling better now that I had worked out some kind of plan as to what I was gonna do. I know Raph's got the reputation of being the hot-head guy, but I'm kinda the impulse guy. I don't tend to think much when I do stuff. I go by instinct and make stuff up as I go. But right now a plan was making me feel a lot better than just walking forever and ever.

A door to my right came into sight and I trotted towards it. When I got closer I saw it was actually a double door. I felt my spirits lift a little. That looked promising! None of the other doors I'd passed had been a double set! This looked like something important! Let's hope it was the right place because I didn't wanna turn around and get lost among all these small passages and stuff. I mean I didn't wanna keep walking aimlessly either, but I was scared that if I started taking turns and going around corners in this place where everything looked the same I was gonna get lost.

I came to a stop in front of the doors, taking hold of one of the door-handles. I stopped when I spotted a security panel next to it. I frowned to myself. Oh geez! They're locked! Of course they were! It can never be easy can it?! I growled and kicked the door in frustration. Stupid dumb base with its stupid dumb unneeded creepiness and stupid dumb stupidness!

The door swung open at my kick and I blinked at it. I stared at it wide-eyed for a few moments before I turned to look at the wall panel again. What kind of moron gives a door a fancy lock but then doesn't use it?

'The kind that left in a hurry and didn't bother locking it behind himself again.' a voice in my head said to me. I pulled a face. It didn't matter though. The point was it was open. Lucky me. I took a deep breath, walking forward and pushing it open properly, stepping inside.

The room on the other side of the door was massive, and by massive I really mean massive! It was enormous! You could fit our entire lair _and_ the entire old lair _and_ the old old lair in here and still have enough room for a pool or a half-pipe. The ceiling was high over-head. At least a whole storey higher than the hallway I'd just stepped out from's ceiling. The light was dim and poor, but I thought I could make out wires, coils and pipes running all across it. I felt like I was inside a computer or something, a really old computer mind you, not a fancy slick once. More like the kind they used back in the 80s, all power-cords and black wires. The floor was of some kind of plain, clean steel. It felt cold under my feet. A small stairway lead down from the double doors into the room itself. There was the same soft orange glow in this room as there had been in the oppressive control room I'd passed.

My throat grew tight and dry as I stared, transfixed at the sight in front of me. The entire expanse of the area, every single inch of the vast space, was filled to the brim with long rows of clear glass cylinders. Each one at least 8 feet tall and about 5 feet wide. They all had a control panel wrapped around their base that reached from the floor to just above waist height on me. The controls themselves had small, delicate lights and screens flashing and blinking on them. The orange light of the room came from the tubes themselves which all seemed to have an inner glow to them. There was a very low hum to the room, so soft and so low in tone that I felt more than heard it, rumbling in my chest and under my feet.

I swallowed painfully at my dry throat, my tongue stuck to my palette. It felt like it was made out of sand-paper. I forced myself to turn and take a closer look at one of the large cylinders nearest to me.

The light inside was distorted and looked almost filtered in a way. The view on the other side of the glass was blurred and foggy. There was liquid inside. That wasn't all either. I could trace the vague form of some kind of being inside it. It looked bigger than I was, but I wasn't sure if this was true or if it merely looked that way because whatever liquid was behind the glass was warping the image. I could make out a head, and arms, and legs all curled against itself, like an infant. I looked a little closer, daring to take a few, small steps towards it. At first I thought the creature had tentacles or something, but upon closer inspection I realised there was some kind of tubing leading from the roof of the cylinder to the inert figure inside, like an umbilical.

I swallowed again and stepped back, looking to the rest of the room instead. It was deathly silent. The faint droning of machines was the only real sound apart from my own breathing which almost echoed in the stillness of the air.

I'd found the containment area.

---

It felt like a tomb. I wrapped my arms around myself as I walked hesitantly between the seemingly endless rows of cylindrical holding units. The figures inside of them remained unmoving, oblivious to me being there. I could feel my heart pattering fast and lightly against the inside of my plastron, my breath shallow and even as I forced myself to look into each and every one of the tubes I passed, searching for the small boy I'd come to find.

They held so many different shapes and sizes. Some of them were so much larger and stronger looking than me. Others looked slender and delicate, almost feminine in a way, although I couldn't really tell what they were and didn't think it was really right of me to gawk and find out.

My cheeks stung with the lack of blood and I knew I must've been pale to look at. I felt like I was walking a tightrope or something, and if I made one wrong move something terrible would happen. My nerves felt like violin strings, ready to snap. I could feel myself becoming wound up. Normally I'd be a little fidgety in a place like this, but my emotions were completely shot by this point. It'd been a very long day. I was getting tired while at the same time feeling twitchy and paranoid. It wasn't a good combination. The constant silence didn't do much to calm me down either.

I turned around a corner to start on the next row but jumped so bad I stumbled backwards and fell over at the sight that greeted me. One of the large tubes had been cracked open like an egg. Large, curved sheets of glass lay scattered around as a thick, sticky residue clung to the floor, slowly drying. The smashed cylinder's control panel was dark and grey looking, no lights or read-outs flashing and beeping to themselves. Among the glass and spilled fluid lay a large, bulky figure, completely still and silent. It looked like a cross between a gorilla and a bulldog. It was a dark blackish brown colour. I didn't need to get closer to tell it was dead.

My heart hammered loudly in my chest as I panted. My frightened voice echoing around the room, bouncing my panic right back at me. I closed my eyes and tried to calm my breathing. I wasn't getting enough air and felt dizzy. I needed to calm down.

I slowed my breathing, taking a large lung full of air before I opened my eyes again. The scene that met me hadn't changed in the slightest. I gave a soft, staggering breath as I got to my feet again, my face giving a twitch as I moved forward to pass the stricken creature and continue my search.

I kept my focus on the floor, taking care not to step on any glass while at the same time avoiding the sight of the thing lying dead in the hallway. When I had it behind me I went back to scanning the tubes again, trying to act like nothing had happened although I was aware that my shoulders here trembling.

I don't know how much time went by. Maybe it was an hour, maybe it was a little more. All I knew was it felt like a lifetime. However, the longer I stayed in the room and the less happened, the more I was able to calm down and focus.

I wasn't able to clearly make out the figures inside the tubes, but I was pretty sure I'd be able to identify something looking like a child. The control panel bases of the cylinders were all labelled with numbers, but I couldn't remember what Jotaro's specimen numbed had been.

I kept walking, my eyes tracing the silhouetted figures closely. I concentrated hard, afraid I might miss him.

I didn't have to worry.

There was no mistaking his figure when I found it.

I froze in my tracks turning and facing the cylinder in front of me straight on as I felt myself involuntarily draw in a breath.

I could trace every detail in the murky, orange fluid. The small, juvenile proportions, the thin shoulders, the long legs, the calm, dipped muzzle, the relaxed, flattened ears. There was absolutely no mistake. I was staring at the rabbit child, curled and still, the same long coils running from the cylinder to somewhere against him. He was just as unmoving and silent as all the other creatures in this room, not showing any reaction to me walking around these tubes.

I stepped closer, reaching out and placing my hands against the glass. It was warm.

"Hey little guy..." I said, more to myself than any-one else.

----

I stared up at him for a long time before I dropped my gaze to the control panel in front of me. I felt a frown form on my face as the overly complicated controls and read-outs glowed back at me. I chewed my lip, waving my hand a few inches above the controls tentatively. Oh man! What am I gonna do?

I'd thought it was gonna be a cell, like a jail cell or a cage or something! Not _this!_ I didn't know anything about stuff like this! I needed Donny. Donny would know what to do. He's a genius. He could help me out.

I actually went as far as to pull out my shell cell and try his number, but there was no answer. I whimpered to myself, putting the phone away again as I stared back up at the little boy.

What am I gonna do? If I hit the wrong thing I could end up killing him! He could end up like that big bulky dude a while before! He may be in an aquarium right now but he was still alive. If I pushed one wrong thing I could kill him. I didn't know anything about machines! Why did Raph think I could do this by myself?! Why?!

I gave my head a hard shake. This was no time to panic.

I turned back to the controls. I could feel myself blinking more rapidly than usual. I didn't know anything about machines or computers but... I was the only one here. Raph was blocked off from me and who knows where Leo, Donny and Usagi were. It was up to me. Even if I suck at this I'm the only one who could do anything. I couldn't freeze up. Not after I've gotten this far.

I looked over the controls again, trying to see if I could tell what some of them did. I didn't touch anything, I just inspected and re-inspected and triple inspected the buttons and knobs in front of me. I could kinda figure out one of the screens was showing vital signs and like... brain activity or something like that. Another seemed to measure something or other to do with the fluid.

Well, I wasn't gonna mess with the kid's brain so I decided to focus on the fluid. I found a dial like thing on the controls. It was set to its highest at the moment and was directly under the fluid measurement read-out. I frowned at it, thinking it over long and hard before I reached out and put my hand to it.

I shut my eyes tightly and held my breath.

If any-one's listening up there, please don't make me a killer! I know I was told animals can't commit murder but... damned if I knew what else I would call it if this goes wrong!

I slowly turned the dial the other way.

There was a sudden 'thunk' from the tube and I gave a small squeak, jumping backwards slightly in fright, my eyes wide as I snapped my gaze back to the cylinder.

The thing had begun to hum loudly to itself and I could feel a soft rumble in the floor around it. For a moment I was scared stiff, thinking I'd done something terrible. My brain couldn't even work right for me to imagine what, all I thought was I'd made a mistake and had condemned the boy to death.

However, when I saw the orange hue filling the tube drop slightly and the glass near the top of it become clearer as the fluid inside drained out into somewhere I breathed a little easier, or to put it more accurately, I breathed period.

It took excruciatingly long for it to completely drain away. I was too scared to do anything else while it did so, keeping my eyes focused on the figure behind the glass. He sank with the emptying liquid, not reacting to the change. When the level dropped low enough he came to a rest on the bottom of the tube where he remained, completely still.

I swallowed, breathing through my mouth as I moved closer quickly, putting my hands to the glass again and looking him over frantically. Was he breathing? I couldn't tell.

I bit my lip, looking the glass over hurriedly. I needed to get inside. Fast. Could I risk breaking it now the liquid was drained? No. No it might end up cutting him.

I turned back to the controls, looking them over. I raised my hand to trace over the controls again and was shocked to find I was shaking uncontrollably. I tried to swallow away the excess saliva I could feel in my mouth.

Closer to my left I found a button marked 'raise'. I licked my lips and put a finger to it, pressing it down.

There was a hiss before the glass of the cylinder started to move, raising up and away from the control base and towards the ceiling. I stared after it in shock for a few moments, droplets of orange falling from the still-wet glass.

I tore my attention away from it, moving forward and grabbing hold of the edge of the base, making sure not to step on the controls as I physically hoisted myself up onto what was now a risen platform on which the boy was lying motionlessly.

There wasn't much room, but I was able to get up onto the raised surface and crouch on my knees. I reached out and put my hands on the small body lying inert in front of me. The white fur was completely soaked with whatever he had been suspended in. He was warm to the touch, but that didn't mean anything as the fluid itself had been warm. I put my arms around him and pulled him against me, lying him down on my lap and running my hands over his chest. I took one of his wrists between my fingers and tried to sit myself still so I could feel for a pulse. My own heart was hammering in my throat, making it difficult to breathe. I could feel blood pumping against my eardrums as I stared down at him.

He was bigger than I'd imagined. Not a small, toddler of a boy, but still very much a child. His ears hung limply as his head rested on my leg. His eyes were shut and his face was calm and tranquil. His wrist small wrist hung limply in my shaking hand. I felt my eyes sting.

I shut them tightly, trying to focus on the sensation in my fingers, for some kind of reaction against my skin. For anything. I bit my lip, and held my breath. Listening.

A soft but solid _lub dub_ beat against my fingertips.

I opened my eyes, taking a breathe again a I felt my shoulders sag. I turned my attention to the coil still connected to him. It was attached to his other wrist, like one of those things I've seen in the hospital shows. The end of it disappeared against a small, rectangular patch of skin no bigger than a gram-cracker which had been cleared of fur. I frowned at it for a moment before I lifted my own wrist, undoing the strap I had around there before lying the band down, taking his arm again.

I pressed down on where the puncture was and in one, quick movement, pulled the needle free. Once It was out I wrapped the puncture with my wrist-band to stop the bleeding. I checked him again once I was done, making sure I hadn't hurt him in some way but there'd been no change to him.

I gave a shaky sigh, putting my arms around him again. I found myself curling over him slightly as I drew him close. I'd never felt so relieved in my life. It wasn't even an emotion I could call 'relief' really. It felt like so much more. I'd come all this way. Not just through this base but as a whole. It's felt like the longest journey I'd ever taken towards what had felt like undeniable doom. For so long I saw nothing but a dark, hopeless future ahead of us. I mean, how could any of this have turned out good? How could I have hoped for anything but ruin? One wrong thing had happened after another and they'd just kept piling up more and more until I felt like I was being suffocated. But here I sat now, everything that had happened lying strewn all around me as I sat where I was, clutching the living, breathing boy against my chest.

I felt something run down my face as my shoulders gave a small twitch.

Something twitched back.

I opened my eyes again and eased my grip, turning my gaze downwards. I tried blinking away the water from my eyes.

The boy twitched again, his face tensing for a brief moment. He arched his back slightly before he settled again, his eyes trembling behind his eyelids before he opened them. Large, black-brown irises stared up at me, foggy and unfocused.

I gave a single, watery laugh, staring back down at him.

He blinked at me groggily, opened his eyes fully as his pupils focused... and then gave me a hard, square kick in the jaw.

"_KONO YAROU!!"_ He swore, rather loudly as he twisted himself out of my arms.

"OW!" I put my hands to my face as pain shot through me. I tasted blood and knew he'd made me bite myself as well as nearly broke my jaw for me.

"_Baka! Bakemono! Akuma!" _He continued to scream insults at me, scrambling to the edge of the small platform, not taking his eyes off me. He gripped the edge of the platform and proceeded to try and clamber backwards while at the same time not breaking his glare.

I turned gaze back to him sharply, letting my face go and crawled after him. "Hey wait! Wait a minute you're gonna-!!"

He slipped and fell backwards, hitting the floor with an audible thump.

I moved quickly, getting down from the risen platform and over the controls. The boy was sitting on the floor gripping his head with a pained expression. He twisted himself to stare at me with large, frightened eyes before he sprung up to make a break for it.

"_Woah! No wait a minute!!"_ I sprung forward, grabbing him and hoisting him off the floor, gripping him tightly against me.

He thrashed wildly in my arms, clawing and scratching at me furiously. I could feel his heartbeat against my chest, it was going a mile a minute.

"Would ya hold on for just one second?!" I said desperately, trying to twist my face away from his hands, afraid for my eyes. "Look I'm not gonna hurt you! I'm here to help!!"

He didn't respond, instead kicked hard at my stomach. It didn't hurt though, my plastron shielded me from the blow. He wasn't responding to me at all, squirming angrily as he tried to free himself.

I was breathing fast and shallow, my mind racing as to what I could do. I couldn't _drag_ the boy all the way back to the shell sub! It was clear that if I so much as loosen my grip he was gonna break free and run away as fast as he could. I was having a hard time keeping a grip on him as it was! He was terrified of me, but nothing I said seemed to trigger any kind of response as he just continued to try and get away.

"_Hanase!"_ He screamed at me to let him go, I saw tears run down his face. _"Hanase! Hanase!!"_

Something in the back of my mind clicked, and I tried again, only this time I dropped the English.

"(Relax! I'm not going to hurt you!)" I tried desperately, my Japanese was a little rusty.

I got an immediate reaction though as he suddenly stopped his thrashing, freezing as he stared at me with large, fearful eyes. I grabbed the opportunity to try and talk to him.

"(I'm not going to hurt you I promise! I'm here to help.)" I said, locking my eyes on his and giving him a serious stare.

His eyes fluttered for a moment before a dark frown formed on his face and he struggled again. "(Liar!)"

I gave my head a hard shake. "(I'm not lying I swear! I've come to get you out of here! I'm here with my brothers and Miyamoto Usagi! We've come to rescue you!)"

At this he froze completely and took a sharp breath, his pupils contracting. "(Uncle Usagi?)"

I gave a long breath in relief, nodding. "(Yes. He asked us to help rescue yo-)"

"(Where is he?!)" He suddenly grabbed my shoulders, squeezing rather painfully hard as tears shot into his eyes. "(Please! Please where is Usagi?!)"

"(Calm down calm down!)" I softened my expression, trying not to wince at the fingers digging painfully hard into my flesh. "(He's with my oldest brother, probably looking for you somewhere else in this place. I'm going to take you to him alright?)"

I was alarmed when he burst into tears. "(Please! You need to take me to him! Please please please! I.. I need Usagi-san! I... I need... need to be with him!)"

"(I know. I know.)" I spoke gently, trying to stop myself from choking up at seeing him plead like this. "(Don't worry ok? We'll find him and everything will be alright. You're safe now.)"

He gave a loud sob, suddenly shooting forward and throwing his arms around me in a death-grip, burying his face into me. "(Please!... ..Please I.. ..I need Usagi!)"

I changed the position of my hands, hugging him tightly against me. "(It's alright... it's going to be ok Jotaro-kun.. ..You're safe now.. ..I'm gonna take care of you.....)"

He tried to say something else but was unable to as he completely broke down against me, sobbing loudly. I cradled him against me, finding myself instinctively rocking him slightly as I murmured to him, trying to calm him down. He was shaking all over, crying inconsolably as he refused to let me go.

**Xxxxx**

_I cannot speak Japanese (yet!). I wasn't gonna rely on an online translator and annoy the crap out of my readers, so I opted for using the brackets. Using brackets to denote a different language is being spoken is a trick I've seen used in more than one comic series. I know this is prose and not comics but it's my story... so there XD I wasn't able to use the triangle brackets though because FF doesn't support them in a story document.  
_

_I think we deserve some hugs all around._


	34. Backtracking

_I don't own TMNT or UY_

**Xxxxx**

Man, this was no good. None of these passages were going the direction Mikey was in. I managed to find one U turn which took me close, but just as I got excited thinking I was gonna be able to meet up with him again, I was faced by another damn fire door! I can't even describe how frustrating it was to turn around and head all the way back I'd come, once again moving in the opposite direction from Mikey. I hadn't been able to find one single other hallway that could lead me where I wanted to go. Even if I did find one it would probably just be blocked off too! I'd never been so irritated in all my life!

I slammed my fist against one of the walls as hard as I could, gritting my teeth to myself as I marched aimlessly forward in the wrong direction. Dammit! I'd promised him I wouldn't be long! It's been almost an hour now and I still had no way of even getting in the same _area_ as him! I had no idea what I could do. No idea at all. I felt so powerless and lost. I hated it! I _hated_ it!

I slammed my fist against the wall again with a loud snarl. Why?! What was the point in splitting us up?! Who exactly thought that _that_ would be a good joke to pull on us?! Mikey needed me! He _needed_ me! He was screwed up enough as it was without this whole mess falling in our laps!

I shook my hand, flexing my fingers to try and ease the pain I'd inflicted on myself. I was angry as all hell, but in truth I was more scared than anything else. Usually when I was scared it morphed its way into anger in me. I dunno why, probably so I could stay functional and not freeze up. Of course it didn't work all the time. I have memories, even if its just a handful of them, where I'd needed a sharp word from one of my bros to snap me back to my senses when I freaked out too badly. Of course, every time I'd hit that level it'd been 'cause I was afraid for some-one in my family. I dunno... family getting hurt just... really got to me. More than anything in this world, the one thing that could render me to a quivering mess was the idea of some-one in my family getting messed up.

And now here I was, heading in the complete opposite direction from Mikey who had only a short while before been standing in front of me, bawling his heart out. Man I hope he was ok. I mean normally I wouldn't even bother worrying about him. He knows how to look after himself when he puts his mind to it. But he had been so shaky and he sounded so terrified when I left. I was going out of my mind with worry.

This wasn't fair. None of this was any fair.

Something snapped me outta my brooding and I looked around the hallway I was busy marching down, pulling my sai free. I wasn't sure what it'd been that'd caught my attention. There didn't seem to be any-one around and I couldn't spot anything that I would subconsciously register as a threat. I frowned to myself.

It took a few moments before I realised that the thing which'd caught my attention was the sudden lack of the alarm and electronic voice. It'd been blaring non-stop for ages now. When it went dead so abruptly it'd shaken me from my thoughts.

Relieved that that was all it was I put my weapons away and kept walking, going back to my grumbling as I desperately hoped for this passage to make a turn somewhere ahead.

One thing that made me feel better though was the fact that Mikey had said he'd found the hallway leading to the containment cells, and not just on a hunch, there's been a damn sign _pointing_ the way we needed to go. There was no mistaking the fact that the cells weren't that far away. I was a little paranoid though, worrying that maybe, for some reason or other, they might've moved Jotaro _again_ and we'd come all this way for nothing. Or maybe Mikey wouldn't be able to get into the cell and was sitting there, waiting for me to show up so I could help him break it open. Or maybe even worse, Bishop might've decided that, after we broke into the last base, it was too risky to keep the boy and had...

I shuddered, killing that line of thought as I kept walking, trying to find something else to focus my attention on. It was too late though, the mental image was already stuck in my head, and of course trying _not_ to think about it only got me thinking about it even more.

I shook my head lightly, trying to think of something else.

I wonder if Leo and Don and Usagi were maybe heading towards where Mikey was. I was more than sure this alarm that'd started to blare had something to with the portal, and if they'd managed to shut it down already maybe they were heading to where Jotaro was, which is where Mikey was at the moment too. That made me feel a little better. I didn't mind running around by myself if Mikey had Leo to look after him. Donny or Usagi would be fine too but, as much as I hate to admit it, Leo would be the best person for him right now. Nothing like level-headed, calm cool collected Leonardo to make you feel better and forget how bad things really were. Not that I'd ever tell _him _that.

I kept walking, my mind wandering as I started to calm down. I was still feeling frustrated and worried but focusing on other things was helping me not have a complete freak out.

The hallway stretched on endlessly in front of me, the walls of it broken up by arches leading into different passages or doors leading to who knows where. My footsteps echoed in the silence as I walked, my thumbs tucked into my belt.

I dunno how long it was before another sound caught my attention. I froze, frowning to myself as I listened.

Somewhere ahead of me I could hear approaching footsteps, along with voices. I made a low noise to myself, pulling my sai free but remaining where I was. I hadn't seen any guards at all since the ones who attacked us made a break for it, but that didn't have to mean that they were all gone. Just because the ones who'd attacked me and Mikey turned chicken and ran didn't mean whoever was approaching would do the same thing.

There was also the chance that it could be Bishop, or this other bastard Tibalt. Heh. Strange how the thought of Tibalt makes me angrier than Bishop does right now. Didn't even think that was possible.

I waited, glaring at the approaching noise. It was coming from my left, probably from one of the side passages. I tightened my grip on my weapons as the noise grew louder.

When the owners of the footsteps entered the hallway, from a side passage I was so dumb-struck to see who it was that all I could do was gape at them as they crossed the hall, not seeing me, before they carried down a different archway to my right.

I blinked, snapping out of it when I heard their voices grow fainter as they walked away. I tucked my sai back in my belt before taking off after them.

"Hey guys!" I called, running to catch up.

The voices and footsteps went silent as I turned the corner and into the hallway they'd gone. They were standing a few paces ahead of me, all three of them turned to look back over their shoulders at me with wide eyes.

Leo frowned to himself, squinting at me. "Raph?!"

I gave a wicked laugh, coming over to them and giving Donny a hard smack on the back of his shell playfully.

"_Man_ is it good ta see you guys!" I said, giving Usagi a broad grin as I wrapped an arm around Donny's neck.

"Get off me you oaf!" Donny complained, wriggling against me.

Usagi gave me a heartfelt smile in return, chuckling lightly at Don's struggles. "It is good to see you are unharmed Raphael-san! The lack of communication had it so that we were... quite concerned about you."

I didn't miss the sideways glance he gave Leo. I felt my grin widen at this but decided to use it for ammo later instead of teasing my big brother about it right now.

I waved a hand dismissively at the rabbit, letting Donny go. "Aw, piece of cake! Besides its kinda hard ta get roughed up when every nut in the joint suddenly decides ta hoof it!"

"You won't here me complaining about that" Donny said, taking a step back from me so I couldn't grab hold of him again. "I dunno about you but I was getting kinda sick of trying to accomplish things while sneaking around."

I grinned at him and nodded. "Likewise. Besides, I've had my fill of head clobberin' today."

"Raphael." Leo interrupted, his voice having that distinct 'no nonsense' tone to it which told me something was up. I turned to him, a little unnerved to see him facing me with a stone-hard stare, his expression dead-serious.

"Raph. Where's Mikey?" He asked bluntly.

I saw the smile on Donny's face crash and his eyes widen as he suddenly looked around, also noticing our hyper brother wasn't with me. Usagi merely frowned at me with concern.

I gave a short, aggravated sigh, crossing my arms. "Probably on the other side of the base by now! We got separated when this damn steel door came crashing down between us! I've been tryin' ta find another way back to him but..." I grit my teeth, feeling my eyes narrow. "...but this whole damn place is just one giant maze! I've been walkin' for _hours_ in the _wrong direction_ 'cause _none_ of these passages go the way I _want_ them to! And the ones that _do_ all end with me facin' a friggen' metal _door!!_"

Leo blinked at me. He looked surprised at how angry I was. It only took him a moment to frown at me again, but this time in concern.

"Was he ok when you left him?" He asked.

For a few moments I wasn't sure what to say to him. Was I suppose to lie and say Mikey was fine? That wasn't the truth. In fact it couldn't be _further_ from the truth! But what point would there be in telling him Mike was on the verge of a nervous breakdown? All it would do was get Leo worked up and freak Donny out. I made a small noise to myself.

"He ain't hurt." I said.

Leo's frown deepened a little as he stared at me. I could tell he was seeing through my double-talk.

"I am sure Mikey-kun will be able to look after himself until we can reunite with him." Usagi suddenly interrupted, giving me a quiet, thoughtful stare. "I know he is of a strong character, and with the guards no longer around he will be in little danger."

I softened my glare slightly at the rabbit in gratitude. Man, never expected for the guy to have my back against _Leo_.

Leo turned to give Usagi a worried look before he sighed and gave a nod. "I guess you're right."

A thought occurred to me and I felt myself break out into a grin again. "It ain't all bad news though!"

Leo turned back to me with a confused expression.

"What d'you mean Raph?" Donny asked, blinking at me.

I gave them a very wide smile. "Just before we got split up, Mikey found a directory with a veeeeery interestin' sign pointin' the way which he's now headin'!"

Leo frowned at me again. "And what exactly is that suppose to mean?"

I rolled my eyes, a little disappointed that he hadn't caught the hint. "It means that Once we meet up with him again we can high-tail it outta here, 'cause right now Mikey's pulling one heck of a jail-break!"

Leo blinked at me for a moment before his eyes widened, his mouth dropping open.

"You are not serious!" Usagi blurted out before he could say anything, rounding on me with wide-eyes. "You have found where they are keeping Jotaro-kun?!"

I didn't think it was possible but my smile grew wider. "I got stuck on the wrong side of the door, but Mikey's probably already sprung the kid free."

"Are you _sure_ Raph?" Leo said, raising his hands slightly as he spoke, trying to keep his tone calm and business like, but he wasn't able to completely mask the growing excitement in his voice.

I pulled a face at him, sticking my tongue out slightly. "Why would I lie huh?! We saw a sign clearly marked 'Containment Area', Mike got excited and ran ahead which is why we were on opposite sides of the steel door when it came down. I told 'im I was gonna try find another way to where he was but that he needed ta go on ahead and find the kid on his own!" I snapped my fingers. "Easy as pie!"

"That's _Great_ Raph!!" Donny said, practically beaming at me. "I can't believe you guys found him!! We wanted to tell you we were going after the portal and you should go after Jotaro but the shell cells aren't working!! I can't believe you guys found him anyway!!"

"And he's probably gonna take the boy back to the shell sub and wait for us there!" Leo said, breaking into a glowing smile himself. "Man we couldn't have _planned_ this better!"

I felt my chest rise slightly in pride as I put on a dismissive air. "We were just lucky is all. Anybody coulda found it, we just happened ta-"

"Usagi. Hey are you ok?" Donny's voice interrupted me.

I cut off my sentence to look at the rabbit, my smile melting away in a single split second.

He was standing rooted to the spot, one arm wrapped around his own middle while he bit down on a finger of the other. He was shaking, rather badly I might add.

"Hey." Leo moved closer, putting a hand on his shoulder. I was confused to see that Leo looked more than just concerned, he almost looked scared. I didn't like that at all. Why the overly worried response? Did something happen?

"Easy, easy." Leo said to Usagi gently, squeezing his shoulder and keeping his eyes locked on him. "It's ok Usagi."

Usagi released his finger to take a deep, shaking breath. He gave a rather erratic nod, closing his eyes.

"I.. I know I..." He opened them again, turning to Leo with a warm smile. "...I am alright I just..." He bit down on his lip as his brow furrowed into a pained expression. "Mikey-kun's found him Leonardo...."

Leo was looking almost horror-struck at his friend's expression as he nodded. "Yeah. Yeah it's ok now. Mikey'll look after him. He's a bit of an air-head but he'll guard the boy with his life."

Usagi gave a nod, smiling again. He took a very deep, more stable breath, fighting down his emotions.

He opened his eyes again, a serious, hard-set expression on his face. "We must go and destroy this portal." He broke into a smile again, but this time there was a razor sharp edge to it. "I have nothing dividing my concerns now."

Leo blinked at him before he broke into a determined smile himself, giving a single nod as he let Usagi go. "Let's go."

he turned and we started to lead the way.

"Waittaminute!" I snapped as I followed. "You're tellin' me that alarm _wasn't_ 'cause you guys had broken the thing?!"

Donny gave a drawn out, tired sigh. "It's a long story Raph..."

---

I marched angrily through the pitch black hallway, my fury practically sparking off of me. I couldn't believe the long sordid story Donny, Leo and Usagi had just told me! As if I didn't wanna rip Tibalt's guts out bad enough! Now _this!!_ I couldn't believe it!! I just couldn't believe it!! The man slanders Mikey and nearly kills _both_ Leo and Usagi while bringing some Godforsaken monster here to terrorise our city while at the same time keeping a little boy under lock and key?! _What the hell kind of sicko is this?!_

I was storming through the passage, following Donny's trail since I couldn't see him, but I was perfectly aware he was there. Ninjas don't need their eyes to manoeuvre around.

"Raph, for goodness' sake try to calm down." I heard Leo say behind me.

"I ain't gonna calm down till I've ripped that man's throat out!" I growled vengefully.

We'd made our way back to where they'd told me this portal was. They took the time to fill me in on everything that'd happened on their side. They'd told me of the shell cells being blocked by the base itself. About how they'd found the portal was closer to them than the containment cells were. About how they'd gone to sabotage it. About how Bishop had appeared and how Usagi and Leo had gone to distract him while Donny tried to destroy the gate. About how Tibalt had shown up and double crossed our "friend" in black. About how Tibalt revealed his boss was something from another dimension trying to get here. About how the portal had exploded, knocking Leo out and very nearly killing the rabbit. About how Donny deactivated the Fire-doors. About how Bishop had reappeared and given them the fail safe device and lastly, about how they were now gonna do everything they can to destroy this thing once and for all.

Donny had been right; it was a long story. By the time they'd finished we'd found ourselves in the hallway nearing the portal room. I could already feel the slight vibration in the floor and hear the far off rush of wind and crackle of lightning. I could smell the faint hint of smoke in the air, but it seemed stagnant, like it had been there for a while. It didn't smell like the smoke from a fire that was still burning. With Donny having turned off the alarm the passage had nothing to light it and we'd had to make our way down it in complete darkness.

As we walked the rushing wind and sound of a roaring machine grew louder and louder until it was almost deafening. A sharp, blue light started to fill the passage from an open archway, its doors ripped from their hinges.

I took a deep breath, catching up to keep pace with Donny, waiting for Leo and Usagi to do the same before he walked through the doorway and into the rubble that was once the portal room.

Inside there stood the machine they had described to me. More than two storeys tall, its centre ablaze with swirling, cyan light so bright you couldn't look at it directly. Wind was whipping around us, sucked into the vortex as destroyed machinery and torn electronics lay smashed all around. The centre of the portal was spinning dizzyingly fast. Every few moments a jagged, forked blast of blue light would lash out from the portal's centre, slicing into whatever it struck, cutting deep gashes into the already decimated room. There was no fire, only dark scorch marks of where they were, but the wind had been too much for them and they'd burnt themselves out. The noise was almost unbearable, it was like being inside a hurricane.

My bandanna tails were ripped forward where they flapped, whipping the side of my face painfully.

"Lord have mercy..." I said to myself.

**Xxxxx**

_I Can't believe I finished the chapter after this, this very night. I only got home at 8pm.I suppose its for the best since the chapter is short. I might only upload the next chapter on Saturday though since the chapter after that is a big one._


	35. A Wrong Turn

_I don't own TMNT or UY._

**Xxxxx**

"(How is Usagi?)" Jotaro asked me anxiously as we walked. "(It's been so long since I saw him, he must be terribly worried.)"

I turned to blink at him, finding it rather interesting that, despite everything he's been through, the boy was still worrying over Usagi's feelings. He stared back at me with concern.

I sighed. "(He's been... very worried.)"

Jotaro made a small understanding noise, frowning to himself. "(I wish he didn't. I'm not hurt and I knew he would find a way to come rescue me. I hope when we get to him he'll see I'm perfectly alright and he'll feel an idiot for getting so worked up!)"

I frowned lightly as I listened. It was a little tricky understanding the boy. I was fluent in Japanese even if I was a little rusty and made simple mistakes now and then, but Jotaro wasn't really speaking the Japanese I knew. He spoke real old school Japanese. It's not like its a different language or anything like that, it just meat I had to pay extra attention to what he was saying. It's kinda like when an English person reads something by Shakespeare. You can probably understand it all, but you need to focus harder.

Jotaro's light-hearted scolding of Usagi stopped and he looked concerned again, his ears dropping slightly. "(I really hope he's not worried over me too much. I didn't mean for this to happen you know.)"

I nodded, giving him a smile. "(It'll be ok. I'm sure when we find him he'll just be happy to see you. He won't worry about all that over stuff)"

Jotaro nodded again, going quiet.

We were walking the way I had first come when I found the containment area, going back to where I'd last seen Raph. I was hoping one of the side passages or doors might have a second way to that side of the base and I could meet up with him. We needed to try and find where Donny had parked the shell sub.

Not so long ago I'd been cursing the base for being so deserted and devoid of people. Now I was very grateful for it. It meant that I didn't need to be overly worried about men with guns suddenly appearing. I didn't want anything to happen to the little boy after I'd _finally_ found and rescued him. I don't think I could take it if he got hurt. Even without the guards around I was a bundle of nerves, imagining all kinds of horrors getting the jump on us, or steel doors coming down and slamming ontop of us, or _that_ man appearing from a side passage. I was feeling very paranoid, but I was using every fibre of my being to try and hide it.

It had taken a while, but Jotaro had finally calmed down enough for me to tell him we needed to get going and find the others. He'd agreed eagerly and we left the containment room as fast as we could. I found it a little troubling that the boy trusted me so easily as soon as I'd mentioned Usagi's name, but I reminded myself that he had no reason not to. For one thing I did break him free, and I was speaking to him in Japanese which I'm sure none of the scientists in this place had bothered to do, and most importantly, I wasn't a human. I was something closer to what he was use to seeing. The irony of it was enough to make my head spin. Jotaro was trusting me readily because I _wasn't_ human. If I wasn't feeling so jumpy I woulda burst out laughing.

I'd sat him on the upper ridge of my shell with his legs over my shoulders. I was holding onto his legs to keep him steady while he in turn held onto my shoulders. My shell was too wide for him to ride on my back and I was marching too fast for him to keep up with me if he walked. Besides, I wasn't sure how long they'd kept him in that tube and if he'd be strong enough to walk for a long stretch of time without getting tired. He seemed pretty energetic and awake, but you never know. I didn't wanna weaken him and make him sick.

I was almost overwhelmed with relief that Jotaro was talking as I walked. He'd been very quiet for the first few minutes and I'd started to get worried about him. I was afraid Bishop might've broken him or something like that, but after a while he started to ask me questions about Usagi and how I knew him. The more I answered the more he had to ask. He still seemed very scared and badly shaken, but just hearing him talk was enough to let me know that after a hot meal and some real sleep he'll be fine.

I could feel him shivering against me as his fur dried painfully slowly. Poor little guy. I wish I could find a discarded lab coat or something for him. He was freezing. I hoped sitting on my shoulders would warm him up a little.

We were making good time. Or at least I think we were. I couldn't really figure this place out but it felt like we were making progress. We said nothing to each other for a while as I walked, Jotaro looking around skittishly. I felt him tighten his grip on me as we continued to move forward.

He shifted slightly before speaking again. "(What is your name Turtle-san?)"

I blinked, a little shocked to realise I hadn't introduced myself yet.

"(I'm Mikey.)" I said

"(That's a strange name.)" He replied rather bluntly.

I threw a pout at this. "(It's short for Michelangelo.)" I said, only realising after I'd said it that that didn't help matters at all. I didn't exactly have the most common name ever.

"(Hmm. It's still a strange name.)" Jotaro said.

"(Hey, I didn't name me!)" I whined. "(It's not my fault!)"

"(Do I call you Mikey-san or Michelangelo-san?)" He asked, ignoring my last sentence completely.

"(Mikey's fine.)" I said.

"(Alright Mikey-san.)" he said.

I rolled my eyes. "(Not Mikey-_san_. Just Mikey. Mikey-san makes me sound old.)"

"(I like Mikey-san better.)" He said matter-of-factly.

I gave a groan. "(Fine fine. As long as you stop calling me 'Turtle-san' I guess.)"

I felt his grip tighten slightly on me again. "(Alright.)"

I frowned at this lightly. "(Hey... I didn't mean I was angry about it. You can call me 'Turtle-san' if you like.)"

He shook his head. "(No it's ok. I like Mikey-san.)"

I pulled a slight face to myself. The kid was scared, that much was obvious. I could feel his heartbeat against the back of my head. It was fast and hard. He was still shivering and I could still feel his fur was damp against my skin.

"(When we get out of here and back to my home we should get you some food.)" I said as a way to get a conversation going and distract him. "(Are you hungry at all?)"

He was silent for a few moments, thinking it over. He then gave a nod. "(Yes. Yes I would like that.)"

I gave a nod back. "(You'll have to tell me what you like when we get there.)"

He nodded again. "(Is your home very big?)" He asked.

I gave a nod. "(It's pretty big I guess, but I like it that way. Me and my brothers all get our own space and there's lots of room to do stuff in.)"

"(How many brothers do you have?)" He asked curiously. I felt his grip on me relax slowly.

I smiled. "(I have three brothers who're all older than me.)"

"(That's a large family!)" Jotaro replied, sounding awed. "(Your parents must be wealthy to support you all!)"

I laughed at this. "(Not exactly, and it's just my father who raised us.)"

"(Oh.)" He said simply.

We walked a little further before he asked; "(What are your brothers' names?)"

We kept going like this for a while, me saying whatever I could think of to keep his attention on me and not the quiet, deserted hallways we were walking through. I told him about Raph, Leo and Don as well as Master Splinter. I think I might've even mentioned April and Casey at some stage too. He didn't tell me much about himself, he was too busy asking questions and commenting on the things I was saying. I could feel him ease up as we talked. He didn't seem as scared any more, and he was shaking less.

We soon came to a familiar archway and I was surprised to see that it had, for some reason, opened itself. The fire door had vanished back to wherever it had lowered itself from, leaving the passage clear for us. The directory reassured me that I wasn't imagining things, this was where Raph and I had been separated. I frowned, stopping in front of it as I looked around.

"(Is something wrong??)" Jotaro asked, his hands tightening again.

I winced. "(Easy, you're hurting me.)"

His hands snapped off me as if he'd touched a hot surface. "(I'm sorry!)"

I shook my head. "(It's ok, and no nothing's wrong. In fact this is actually some good luck! I know where my brother went from here. If we keep going we should be able to catch up with him.)"

His hands gripped me again but more carefully this time. "(That is good news!)"

I nodded, smiling widely to myself as I kept going straight, heading in the direction Raph had last said he was taking.

"(Which brother is this?)" Jotaro asked, he sounded a little nervous, as if afraid I'd be angry at him for gripping me too tightly.

"(It'll be Raphael.)" I said with a gentle, reassuring tone.

"(He's the one you said is very strong and brave right?)" the boy asked.

I nodded. "(Yeah. He was trying to find a way back to me after we got split up, but I don't think he could. I haven't seen him since then and I know he wouldn't abandon me.)"

"(I'd like to meet him.)" Jotaro said. "(It must be nice to have a brother like that.)"

I nodded, feeling my smile widen. "(Yep. He's the best.)"

---

We walked a long way.

The hallway seemed never ending in front of me. I wondered how many city blocks were above this thing exactly. It must be an entire neighbourhood or something. It just kept going on and on! I couldn't believe it! I kept my eyes wide open for any traces of Raph, or Leo, Don and Usagi for that matter.

Jotaro continued to ask questions about me and the others, but after a while he started getting quieter. I felt my concern grow again but relaxed when I realised he was just getting tired and was busy dozing off. Poor kid. He must be exhausted. I can't imagine how scary it must be walking around a base like this with a perfect stranger, expecting at any minute for men to appear and attack us around every corner. Not to mention I still wasn't convinced he was functioning at a 100% after being in that tube.

It'd been a week ago that we'd broken into the first base and had found he wasn't there. So if my guess was right he'd had to have been locked away like that for at least a full week give or take a day. On the one hand I was worried about what kind of side effects this could have on him. But then again, it also made me feel a tiny bit relieved. I don't think I'll tell any of the others this, but I thought it was much better for him to have been asleep that whole time. I really do. The idea of him all by himself, waiting day after day for us to show up only for no-one to come as he continued to only have Bishop's men for company ripped my heart open. I dunno if it's sick of me or not but... I just felt it was better he was spared that trauma.

Eventually I felt him lose his struggle and fall asleep, still gripping me lightly as he did so, resting his head against the back of mine. I continued onwards in silence, taking personal comfort in feeling him breathing slowly and calmly against me.

I walked further and further and still found no trace of Raph or the others. I didn't like this. I mean I knew this was a big place but somehow it seemed kinda strange to me that I couldn't find any trace of them at all. I really hoped they were ok. Oh man I hope nothing'd gone wrong! There'd been that alarm earlier hadn't there? What if it wasn't 'cause Donny, Leo and Usagi had broken the portal? What if it was something else? What if the malfunction or whatever it was had been something that'd hurt them? What if the guards had caught them or Raph?

I sped up my pace, feeling my throat tighten a little.

I kept going, turning a corner when the hallway split. I came to a stop when I saw what it'd opened up to though. The passage in front of me wasn't as brightly lit as the one I'd just come from. A few of the lights in the ceiling were broken and one of them was flickering slightly. Beyond it I could see more lights had broken, and beyond that the hallway became dark.

I gave a nervous whimper and backed up a small step. This didn't look like anywhere I wanted to be. It was dark, creepy and reminded too much of one of those Japanese Horror video games. This didn't look right. I didn't feel comfortable going in there, let alone with a little boy sleeping against my shell.

I swallowed and turned to head in the opposite direction instead. But when I turned around my breath caught in my chest as I tried to gasp and swallow at the same time, nearly choking myself.

A good few paces behind me stood a figure, his hands in his pockets casually as he stared at me. He seemed completely at ease. When he noticed I'd seen him, the small, cool smile on his face brightened a little and he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He looked almost happy to see me, as if I was an old friend or something. I felt my shoulders seize up and start to shake.

The blue-suited figure removed his hands from his pockets, turning to face me head on before he started to stroll towards me, his eyes locked on mine as the smile remained on his face. I shook my head tightly, taking a good couple of steps backwards, away from him and towards the darkness behind me. I couldn't stop myself from letting out a small, tight _'no!'_.

The light load on my back twitched and shifted, lifting itself off me slightly. Jotaro'd been woken up by my trembling.

"Mikey-san...?"

I took a strangled breath at this. I twisted my head around, staring wide-eyed at the small, groggy boy on my back. He blinked at me blearily. I snapped my attention back towards the approaching man. He hadn't slowed his pace at all, and even from this distance I could see his smile suddenly widen darkly as his eyes slowly rose from my face to the face of the child I was protecting. I felt the boy freeze and heard him try and force air into his lungs, his fingers turning to rock where they were gipping me as he noticed the man. I felt the heartbeat against my the back of my head go from calm to fast and erratic. The man kept coming closer towards us, his eyes sharp and gleaming.

"_Leave him alone!!"_ I screamed at him before I turned and, without a second thought, galloped down the black hallway behind me.

I didn't look back. I just ran as fast as I could, my breath coming out in sharp, painful bursts. My face burned with the rush of blood my heart was pounding through me. I didn't stop. I didn't know where I was going, why the hallway I was in was the only one I'd found that was pitch dark or why I could feel a low rumble in the floor. It didn't matter. I just needed to run. Run away. Run far away and never look back.

"(Mikey-san! Mikey-san wait! I don't want to go this way!)" Jotaro suddenly yelped, gripping me tightly.

I didn't stop, running in a blind panic, my eyes focused straight ahead on the endless nothingness as I tried to focus on not smacking into any walls or dead-ends.

"(Mikey-san! There is something up ahead! We shouldn't go this way!!)" He said more desperately.

"(We need to get away!)" I answered, having to raise my voice over a growing noise coming from somewhere ahead of us.

"(Yes but not this way!! _Please!!_ There is something bad up ahead!! I can hear it!!)" His voice broke as he yelled.

"(There's nowhere else to go!!)" I yelled back, not stopping. Ahead of me I saw a faint, blue light appear, enabling me to trace a doorway a bit ahead of us.

"(_Mikey-san please listen to me!! We can't go this way!!)"_ Jotaro begged with a sob.

I sprinted forward, ignoring the deafening roar and the smell of smoke as I shot through the open doorway in front of me and into the cyan blue light.

**Xxxxx**

_._


	36. Tibalt

_I Don't own TMNT or UY._

**Xxxxx**

I tightened my grip on the strap of my duffle-bag as I stared up at the swirling portal in front of us. I don't know if it was just my imagination but it looked even wilder and angrier than it had the last time I'd seen it. Then again that probably had something to do with the fact that last time I'd seen it from the control room's window and not from 'ground level' as it were. From down here it became apparent just how large the thing really was.

I blinked, shaking off my astonishment and unslinging my bag from my shoulders, crouching to the floor and zipping it open. The wind was pulling at my bandanna tails and I had to grab hold of them with a hand as I searched for Bishop's device to stop them from whipping me in the corner of my eye. I found the device and pulled it out, lifting it and looking it over quickly, trying to form a very basic idea of what exactly I was holding in my hand.

There wasn't that much to tell. It was just a basic but efficient piece of hardware, designed to be plugged into a larger machine where it would activate itself when I input its security code. I looked at the destroyed control panels around me. Not a single one of them was left in one piece. There was no chance of me being able to use one of them to input the code. I grumbled lightly to myself. It's never easy is it?

Leo came over to me, his eyes staying on the swirling vortex in front of us.

"Everything ok Don?" He raised his voice about the noise.

I pulled a face. "I need to find a way to access this thing's security lock and input Bishop's code." I turned to look at the destroyed main control panel running through the middle of the room. "I'm gonna have to do a salvage and put something together."

"How long will that take?" Leo asked, turning his eyes away from the machine to me.

"I don't really know. It depends on what I have to work with." I replied, getting up and moving towards the wreckage.

"Well whatever you do, do it fast. I'd rather us shut this thing down than try and stop whatever's trying to get through." Leo said, turning to look back to the machine as he followed after me, acting as my cover.

Raph was staring at the machine with a dark, hateful expression, his teeth bared ever so slightly as he gripped the handles of his sai. He was slowly pacing in front of the large oval, ready to face whatever might come rocketing out of it. Usagi was being more restrained, standing a few paces back in a readied stance, a frown on his face as he kept shifting his attention around the room and then back to the portal. He was, for all intents and purposes, keeping watch. What for I wasn't sure but I was glad to see he wasn't getting tunnel vision, so to speak, and only keeping his attention on the portal itself. It'd be laughably easy for some-one to take us by surprise from behind if all we were doing was staring at the vortex. On the other hand though, it was very hard _not_ to stare. The thing dominated the whole scene.

I crouched down among the ruined technology and started sifting through it hurriedly, trying to find anything I could use to create some sort of numerical input device. As I busied myself among the rubble Leo stood himself over me, a sword in each hand as he kept watch. He was guarding me, making sure I could focus on my job without having to worry about anything jumping out the portal and attacking me or of one of the blue blasts of energy striking me while my head was down. I would've been fine on my own, but it was still a comfort to know I didn't need to break my concentration and that if anything threatening should appear, Leo would alert me.

I needed to find something I could fashion into a number pad. I knew I had a scientific calculator in my duffle-bag which I kept in case of emergencies that I could crack open. If I could rewire it to the fail-safe device directly I might be able to input the code that way, otherwise perhaps I could wire the calculator to the gate itself. I was gonna need to get close to it anyway to plug this thing in.

I swallowed as I searched, pulling wires free and picking out fragments of circuitry. I was a little ashamed about it, but I was scared of getting close to that thing. I knew there was no other way to do this, but I still didn't like the idea. I couldn't let myself get paralysed by this though. I was just gonna have to swallow my nervousness and do it. The others were counting on me and I knew I could do this.

After I'd gathered what I could from the scrap-pile I got to my feet and hurried back to my bag, Leo following closely behind, stepping backwards as he followed me to keep his focus on the portal.

"Raph! Watch your head!!" He called.

Raph immediately jumped to the side, not bothering to ask why. He'd barely gotten out of the way before a fierce bolt of energy shot right past where he'd been standing and hit one of the far walls with a loud crack.

I flinched at the noise and faltered slightly, but I snapped myself out of it and continued to my bag, sitting down next to it and digging around inside till I found my calculator. Now that I think about it, I wasn't really sure what kind of an emergency I was expecting to use it for. 'An Emergency like this one?' I suggested to myself as I pulled out my compact screwdriver and started undoing the screws in its back.

There was another loud bang from one of the energy bolts and I looked up quickly, flinching as I tried to see how near it had struck. It had sounded a little too close for comfort.

"I got your back Don! Just keep going!" Leo reassured me when he saw me look up.

I nodded hesitantly and turned my focus back on my crude wiring. I had to work fast.

"These strikes are slowing in number but they are growing in their intensity!" I heard Usagi call. "I feel what ever is trying to breach the dimensional wall is not far off now! We must hurry!"

"We're working on it Usagi!" Leo called back to him.

I licked my lips dryly as I tried to speed up but not make any stupid mistakes.

I checked my work, did a very quick double-check, then got up, picking up the fail-safe device and the make-shift numerical pad as I turned to Leo.

"I need to get this thing plugged in." I said to him above the noise.

He gave me a nod, turning. "Go on! I'll cover you!"

I nodded back and turned before running towards the large structure, halting in my tracks whenever a bolt got too close or when one of the destroyed computers sparked or crackled with spilt electricity. There was an instant where I felt Leo's hands grab hold of me and violently shove me to one side as a few moments later, an ear-splitting bang erupted just a foot or so away. I spun around to make sure he was ok before I got to my feet again. I turned back to the portal's triangular support structures around its base. I frowned at it a moment before turning back to Leo.

"I can make it the rest of the way by myself!" I said.

"Are you sure?!" He asked, frowning at me with concern.

I nodded. "I'll be safer the closer I get! Those things don't seem to hit near the gate itself!"

Leo gave me a reluctant look but nodded. "Ok then! But for Heaven's sake be _careful_ Donatello!"

I gave a nod, turning to run towards the portal device. "You know me!"

Perhaps it wasn't smart of me to go the last few steps alone, but as much as I didn't want Leo to be put in danger, I was being honest. The bolts of energy never struck around the machine's base and there was no reason for Leo to watch over me for the small distance.

As I got closer I slowed down, taking my steps carefully as the force of the portal's suction became stronger. It wasn't anything I couldn't handle, but I made sure not to trip over something or lose my balance. That wouldn't end very well, even if I didn't get hurt myself. I could see in my mind's eye the horrible situation of me falling and dropping the two pieces of machinery I was holding, letting them get sucked into oblivion. I tightened my grip on them subconsciously.

I finally reached the large base of the structure and started looking it over quickly. Bishop had said the input was near the back on the left side of this thing. I crouched down, reaching forward and putting my hand against the metal of the machine shakily. It was scaldingly cold. I gave a bad shudder at the sensation but ignored it, running my fingers over the surface as I tried to find the input socket.

There was a sudden, very loud cry. My head snapped up and away from the machine as I felt my heart leap right into my throat. Panic rose in me as I looked back to where my brothers were standing, ready for whatever was going to come through that portal. The sharp, burning bolts of energy were still lashing out angrily. Please don't tell me some-one'd been hit!

To my great relief no-one had been injured by the blasts, however when I saw who _had_ made the noise I felt the blood in my face drain clean away and air rush into my lungs as I took a suffocated breath.

Mikey had just come bursting into the room, taking a few last, stumbling steps before he came to a complete halt, his eyes stretching wide as he was hit by the sight of the machine, the portal and the absolute destruction of the room. It'd been him that'd cried out in fear.

My eyes traced his figure as he stood frozen to the spot. His knees instinctively bent, ready to turn and run. His hands were lifted to around his chest where they were gripping something slung over his shoulders. It took a few moments before my brain got over the shock of seeing him enough to hit me with the horrifying realisation that he was carrying the small rabbit child on his shoulders. I could see the boy's face peering over the top of his head, his ears standing erect as he stared at the terrifying scene in front of them. Neither of them had noticed the rest of us in the room.

Oh no. Why? Why did he have to bring the boy here?! Why?!

Leo was the first to snap out of his shock, running towards the two of them.

"_Mikey get down!"_ He screamed.

Mikey's head tore itself away from the portal, staring at Leo with a panic-stricken expression. However Leo's sharp command made something in his brain click and he threw himself to the side just as another bolt of energy struck out to where he had been standing.

Leo skidded to a halt as the bolt shot out on front of him before he went back into his gallop, running towards where Mikey had thrown himself out of the way.

Mikey was pushing himself off the floor, his eyes turning back to the machine in terror, the little boy on his back had slid off and was scrambling to his feet. I could see his chest heaving in panic even from this distance. He quickly moved back over to Mikey, sticking close to him for protection.

Leo grabbed Mikey by an arm roughly, pulling him to his feet. "_Dammit Michelangelo what the hell are you doing here?!"_

Mikey blinked and gave his head a half-shake, turning his large eyes to Leo. "I.... I don't know!! We were being chased and I...!! I didn't know where I was going!! I... I didn't..!! I didn't mean to...!! Leo I swear I didn't mean to come...!!"

"Jotaro-kun?!"

The sharp cry interrupted Mikey's terrified rambling.

The boy ripped his gaze away from the whirling vortex at his name being called, twisting his head around to see who'd spoken.

"_Ouji-san?!" _He called out, loud and scared.

"Jotaru-kun!!" Usagi bolted across the room, jumped over one of the stricken robotic arms and cleared the rest of the way in less than a heartbeat.

The boy took one look at him before he broke into a sprint, clearing the last few strides in a single instant before he lunged at the samurai, tackling him and knocking him backwards. Usagi in turn threw his arms around the child. He clutched him tightly for a second before he pushed him away, his hands flying up and cupping the boy's face, running them over his cheeks and forehead.

"_Daijoubu?! Daijoubu desuka?!"_ He frantically asked the boy if he was alright.

Jotaro was gripping Usagi's kimono sleeves in his hands as if his life depended on it. He gave a hurried nod, tears running own his face as he gave a sob.

Usagi tugged him closer again, hugging him against his chest in a death grip, not letting go again.

"_Yokatta."_ He choked out in relief.

Jotaro clung to him painfully tight, heaving with sobs as the samurai clutched him close. I could see him rock the boy gently before his own shoulders gave a violent lurch.

Leo was rooted to the spot, his hands still on Mikey's arms as he watched. Mikey kept his eyes on the two of them for a few moments before he made a small noise, pulling his arm out of Leo's hands. Leo let him go but didn't look away from the boy and his father. He swallowed, took a small step forward, then froze again.

Usagi somehow found a way to hug the boy even tighter for a few seconds before he eased his grip, putting his hands to Jotaro's face again, less frantically this time, running a thumb across one of his cheeks gently as he gave a water-logged smile. Jotaro was staring back at him, still crying but not as wildly as before.

"(I thought you were lost to me.)" Usagi said to him shakily.

Jotaro said nothing, unable to choke anything out.

Usagi shook his head, biting his lip as he hugged the boy close again. "(I almost lost you...)"

I saw Jotaro shake his head somewhere among the folds of Usagi's kimono, nestling himself in the silk folds of the garment.

"(I... I'm alright uncle....)" He managed.

Usagi nodded. "(...Thank goodness... ..I.. I was so scared)" He buried his head against the boy. "(...I love you so. Don't... don't ever frighten me again...)"

We stood frozen in place, none of us able to break the sudden spell which had formed as we watched the reunion. Again, it was Leo who snapped out of it first. He swallowed again before he walked forward cautiously, kneeling down and carefully putting a hand on Usagi's shoulder. Usagi raised his head blink at him through his tears.

"Usagi-san... it's dangerous here." Leo said with a soft, caring voice.

Usagi stared at him for a few moments before he nodded, easing his grip on the boy again. Jotaro pulled away only as much as Usagi would let him, still gripping the samurai tightly. Usagi turned to look at him before frowning lightly in what looked like confusion for a moment. He took Jotaro's hands in his, releasing their grip on his kimono and standing the boy in front of him before he opened his blue garment at the chest, taking it off but keeping the _juban_ underneath it on. He pulled Jotaro closer again before placing the thing over his shoulders and dressing him in the silk. Satisfied he got to his feet, taking the boy's hand tightly before turning his gaze to Leo. He gave a shaking nod.

"I will get him to safety." He said with an emotional but determined tone.

Leo nodded, giving him a warm, affectionate smile. "Go on. Get out of here."

"Oh I'm not so sure you wanna do that." A voice interrupted the moment.

Every-one's attention snapped in the direction it had come from, I heard Mikey give a sharp, strangled yelp.

We'd been so distracted by Usagi and Jotaro no-one had seen the blue-suited figure of Tibalt enter the room. He was standing next to my duffle-bag, smiling widely at my brothers and the two rabbits, his hands in his pockets.

"_You!"_ Raph yelled out, taking a few meaningful steps towards him before Leo intercepted him, putting a hand on his plastron to stop him. "What the _hell_ do _you_ want?!"

Usagi grabbed hold of Jotaro's shoulders, tugging him closer protectively as he glared pure hatred at the man. The small boy shrunk against the samurai, his ear flattening against his skull. Mikey took a good few steps backwards away from the man, pulling his nun-chucks free and getting them into a spin. He looked scared to death.

Tibalt turned to Raph, giving him a friendly smile. "I think we got mixed up. I should be asking _you_ what you're doing here."

"Turn around, and walk away Tibalt!" Leo yelled angrily. "There's 4 of us and only one of you!!"

I frowned to myself. Four? I was here too you know. I suddenly realised Leo was trying to keep Tibalt's attentions away from me so he couldn't stop me from shutting the machine down. I swore, suddenly aware of how transfixed I was with Jotaro and Usagi and how I'd completely forgotten about what I was suppose to be doing. I quickly turned back to the machine, putting my hand to it again to continue my search for the input socket.

"I may be out-numbered, but I clearly have the upper-hand here." I heard him say. "After all... You've got a child with you."

"_You touch 'im and I'm gonna rip your lungs out through your navel!!"_ Raph yelled, taking another step forward.

Tibalt turned and focused his full attention on Raph. "You must be Raphael. Mr. Bishop has told me about you." His smile perked slightly. "The temperamental, violent one."

Raph's eyes flashed but Leo quickly interrupted. "I'm warning you Tibalt!! One wrong move and it'll be the last you make!!"

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Mikey back up a little further, his nun-chucks still spinning as he stared at the man in terror. A little behind Leo I saw Usagi put a hand to Jotaro's shoulder, carefully manoeuvring him to stand behind the samurai as he pulled his katana from its sheath menacingly. There was murder in his eyes.

There was no way to leave without having to get past the man. Trying to escape and get Jotaro out of the room would, without a doubt, end in disaster.

There was another bright flash and a hard crack from one of the energy bolts as it hit a far wall.

Tibalt's smile darkened slightly as he turned back to Leo. "You seem so sure of that. Are you always so certain of yourself?"

Leo gritted his teeth and narrowed his eyes. "Believe you me, one twitch out of place and I'll cut you down myself!!"

Tibalt looked Leo up and down critically, as if sizing him up. "Strange, you don't strike me as the kind of person who would 'cut some-one down' as you put it. You seem too level-headed for that kind of violence." His eyes narrowed as he showed his teeth, grinning. "Then again, I suppose you don't always have a choice but to kill considering your... appearance."

"_Don't listen to him guys!!"_ Mikey suddenly cried out in a shrill, panicked voice. _"He's trying ta psyche you out!! Don't listen to him!!"_

Tibalt's eyes snapped from Leo to Mikey in one instant, his face brightening into a warmer, friendlier expression. "Oh! Hello again! Michelangelo isn't it? Forgive me, last time we didn't have a proper introduction, but Mr. Bishop has been kind enough to fill me in on you." His smile twisted into a leer. "How have you been?"

Mikey stammered and took a few steps back, raising his nun-chucks slightly.

Tibalt gave a light laugh at this. "You seem a little jumpy, although I'm not entirely sure why. If I remember right the last time we met you were the one doing the most damage." He took a small step forward towards him. "To be honest I'm still a little confused as to why you stopped hitting me when you did."

"_You keep away from him!!" _Raph screamed, pushing Leo off of him roughly but not breaking his glare from Tibalt.

Tibalt ignored him, still sneering at Mikey as he took another step closer. "It doesn't really make any logical sense to me, why you stopped. There was nothing holding you back... and I could see you wanted to kill me." His face darkened but his smile stayed. "Aren't animals suppose to _act_ on that instinct?"

"_Don't you DARE!!"_ Raph exploded, launching himself forward, his sai at the ready.

"Raph _no!"_ Leo yelled but it was too late.

Raph shot forward with one of his weapons with a furious cry. Tibalt didn't budge, which made it very confusing when Raph missed his mark and had to spin around to face him again. My eyes fluttered and I shook my head, trying to make sense of what Id just seen. It had been as if reality flickered in front of my eyes for a moment. Raph gave an enraged scream and slashed at him again. Again there was the disorientating sensation and Raph missed, only this time Tibalt shot out a hand, slamming it down between Raph's shoulder and neck on the sensitive Trapezius muscle. Raph buckled and fell to one knee. Tibalt shot forward with a hand, aiming for his neck.

"_No!" _ Leo leapt forward, his swords flashing as he intercepted the oncoming danger.

I thought for sure Leo was going to slice the man's hand off but somehow Tibalt twisted in place and Leo found himself slicing at nothing. Tibalt shot out a leg, catching Leo around his ankles and knocking him off balance. Leo had put himself in just the right position to be pushed ontop of Raph. He flipped himself off of our brother and threw forward a sword just as Tibalt brought a leg around to deliver a hard kick to his face. Tibalt had to adjust his kick, missing Leo and turning his back on the two of them. Raph shot up again and flung one of his sai. Again there was the strange jitter of imagery and it missed, hitting the far wall before dropping from sight among the electronic shrapnel.

There was a loud bang as a bolt of energy hit my duffle-bag which had lain out in the open. There was a blinding flash and a burst of light before I saw my poor bag lying with it's belly ripped open, its contents spilled. The sharp noise came as a shock to the system and I tore my eyes from the battle, forcing myself to focus on finding the wall-socket and only the wall-socket. Nothing else was important right now. I had to keep my attention on what I needed to do. This thing needed to be shut down _now_.

I ran my hands frantically over the metal, inching my way nearer to the back of the machine as I searched, digging my fingers into every ridge and indentation I found, trying to determine if it would accept the device I held in my hands. I could hear yells and sharp, surprised cries as my brothers continued to hold Tibalt's attention.

My fingers suddenly slipped inside a small groove and I could feel thin, metallic teeth, ready to accept the electronic cartridge in my hands. I leaned forward, inserting it into the socket careful not to force and break it. It slipped in very neatly and I heard it slot itself into place. I picked up the modified calculator quickly, wires running from its open back into the now hidden piece of hardware.

"_Don watch out!!"_

My eyes flew up just in time to see a large slab of machinery fly towards me. I leapt out of the way just in time as it smashed itself against the far off wall. If I hadn't moved it would've taken me with it.

I spun my head around, back to the fight.

Tibalt was facing me, his stance indicating to me that, in some physically defying way, he had thrown the piece of wreckage at me. He still had his eyes on me, they were piercing and full of venom. He looked, for the first time, truly enraged. He straightened, moving to charge at me but before he could take his first step Leo tackled him, grabbing him around his middle and slamming him against the ground, quickly getting him into a submission hold.

I scrambled forward again, rushing to pick up the dropped calculator which, due to it being wired to the machine, had thankfully not been sucked into the vortex.

A sharp, pain-filled cry from Leo stopped me in my tracks as I turned to see Tibalt, somehow having gotten to his feet, recover from having given a hard blow. Leo stumbled to the ground, dropping one of his katana. I saw Usagi tense up where he remained standing, his hackles raised and his teeth bared. He was gripping his katana so tightly it was shaking. I could see the small boy taking shelter behind him, clinging tightly to the samurai's _juban._ Usagi was helpless to do anything without endangering Jotaro.

Raph shot forward again, his remaining sai ready to strike. Tibalt twisting himself around to face him, barely able to dodge the stab. However, with his focus on Raph, he failed to see Mikey suddenly lunge at him from behind, delivering a resounding crack to the man's head with his nun-chucks before slamming his foot against the back of his knees. Tibalt Gave a loud, furious cry of pain as he dropped forward. The second he was on the ground Raph was on him, grabbing his arm and twisting it back so that the man couldn't move without breaking his own arm. Mikey shot forward as well, getting the man's legs in a hold so he couldn't kick at Raph.

I turned my attention forward again, running the small distance before diving forward for the calculator. I was in mid air when I felt something strike me around my middle, hard. Even with my protective plastron and carapace the blow forced the air out of my lungs, winding me. I slammed to the ground and rolled over, choking as I tried to get breath back into me. However, whatever had struck me hadn't finished and I felt something thick and wet to the touch twist itself around me, pinning my arms to my sides and rendering me helpless. I struggled wildly, trying to break the hold, but whatever had grabbed me had me completely enwrapped.

I desperately tried to free myself, turning to see what on earth was holding me.

I was trapped by what looked like a thick, slime covered red snake, twisting around me tightly as it hoisted me off the ground. The red piece of flesh had shot out from the centre of the room. I traced the long winding coil from where it had me pinned, across the large expanse of the room to where I could see it sprouting from the blue-suited figure, Mike and Raph both lying in a stupor a few paces away from him. Mikey was curled double, his arms wrapped around his middle painfully as Raph pushed himself to his elbows. Leo had gotten to his feet again and was staring at the man in petrified horror. Usagi looked dumb-struck, staring unblinkingly as Jotaro tensed up, taking in a deep breath.

The red, nightmarish tentacle had sprung from the man's side where only moments ago I had seen a perfectly normal, human arm. I saw his smile widen darkly as he sneered at me, tightening the coils around me painfully.

I'd seen this thing before, what felt like a long time ago, in a dark chamber under an old mansion.

"_No way!!"_ Leo cried out.

**Xxxxx**

_MAJOR props to Turtlefreak who SOMEHOW unknowingly predicted this all the way back in Chapter 7 XD. I still don't know how you were able to figure it out!_

_From what I can tell, Japanese children do the same thing Afrikaans (My native language) Children do, in that adult men are all referred to as 'uncle' if the child and man are close. I could be wrong though._


	37. The Seduction

_I don't own TMNT (Apparently Viacom does now D8) or UY (Which still belongs to Sakai 8D)_

_Brought to you from the bowels of my college's lunch break._

**Xxxxx**

"_No way!!" _ I cried, staring up at the large red tentacle sprouting from Tibalt's side.

This has gotta be some kind of mistake! The last time I saw tentacles like that was when me and my brothers were under the old Volpehart mansion up on Wall Street. They'd belonged to that creature that got in your head to screw around with your fears. But it was dead! I'd killed it myself! I remember it clearly! I'd thrust the meteor spear right into it just as it tried to seduce me into doing its bidding! It was dead! It can't be alive! I killed it!

A very loud cry of pain woke me from my shock as Tibalt tightened the tentacle around Donny, attempting to crush him.

Memories flashed in my mind as I remembered the lie this creature had shown me of how easily it could snap Master Splinter's spine. But this was no nightmarish vision I was seeing now.

I had dropped one of my swords but I still had one katana in my grip as I sprung forward with a furious cry, bringing the blade down in an arc, aiming for the man's throat. This was one of the times I knew I had to strike to kill, and I didn't hesitate.

He turned his head to me as I leapt and I saw his smile widen ever so slightly before my eyes flickered and I found myself striking too far to the right. I don't know how he was doing it, if he was some-how tricking me into actually striking too wide or if he was somehow moving out of the way, faster than I was able to follow. It didn't matter. Whatever he was doing I had to counter it, and fast. He hadn't released Donny yet, and I could see him tightening his grip even further.

When I landed I quickly spun to face him again, slicing the air as I did so. This time he physically dodged the strike, crouching low as he kept his eyes on me. The wrapped coils around Donny let him go as the large snake-like appendage focused on me instead. Don dropped to the ground, I couldn't see him moving. More than anything I wanted to make sure he was ok, but there was no way I could. At the moment Tibalts entire focus was on me, his smile widened more than a human mouth should be able to, his eyes shining wildly as the tentacle lashed out at me.

I back-flipped out of the way once, twice, then landed on my feet, striking out with my sword at the writhing thing. My strike didn't cut into it as deeply as I wanted it to, but I felt the tip of my blade nick into the flesh.

Tibalt gave a furious scream of pain as the appendage recoiled, squirming. I lunged forward, aiming at Tibalt himself, my sword ready to stab into him but he recovered quicker than I expected. The red tentacle launched itself through the air, smacking me square in the chest and throwing me a good distance across the room. Sparks exploded in front of my eyes as I hit the floor, the ceiling above me tilting off balance for a few moments. I shook my head, trying to recover from my daze as I tried to focus my attention back on Tibalt.

The serpentine thing was coming right at me, right at my face and my eyes. I drew in a hard breath, feeling the growing pain in my chest as my lungs tried to act against the injured bruise.

There was a scream of rage and suddenly the appendage shuddered and curled in on itself. A short distance behind it I saw Raph, his remaining sai buried deep into the red flesh of the thing. Tibalt gave a loud cry, launching himself physically at Raph and delivering what I knew was a cripplingly hard blow to the side of my brother's head with his elbow. Raph made a cut off, swallowed noise, collapsing to his knees and letting go of his sai.

I jumped to my feet, readying my sword as I threw myself forward to protect him, but something wrapped around one of my ankles, tugging me backwards, off my feet and into the air. It took all I had not to drop my remaining katana in shock and I couldn't stop myself from giving a surprised yelp. I felt myself pulled high above the ground, the expanse of the room stretching out below me. Mikey was regaining his senses, slowly getting to his knees with his hands to his head. Donny lay curled next to the large portal gate, I thought I saw him cough and shift slightly. Raph was still in a stupor, trying to get up. Tibalt was moving towards him, curling his own red appendage closer to him and pulling my brother's sai free from the flesh, gripping it like a dagger as he loomed over Raph.

I wriggled wildly, grabbing hold of the the red thing around my ankle, trying to slice at it with my sword.

There was a very sharp, angry cry and I suddenly found my ankle released. I hurtled through thin air for a brief moment before I felt the hard surface of the ground below me smash against the back of my shell. I froze for a moment, biting back the pain before I rolled over hurriedly to see what had happened, panic stricken. The snake-like appendage as whirling and writhing wildly in agony, the last few feet of it severed and wriggling like a fish out of water a few feet away from me. Tibalt was stumbling, stunned by the wound. Raph was getting to his feet, his hands balled into fists as he shook his head, trying to clear it. A good distance behind them was Mikey, standing and quickly getting his nun-chucks ready to jump into the fight again.

Not too far away from me stood Usagi in a recovering position, his katana at the ready, small, crimson droplets from the wounded monster staining into the white silk of his _juban_. He spun his head towards where Mikey was standing, throwing out a hand to indicate towards something.

"_Mikey-kun! Jotaro-kun wo mamotte agete kudasai!!"_ He yelled at him, ordering him to protect Jotaro.

Mikey blinked at him wide-eyed before he turned and bolted across the room. I could just make out the small boy crouching down behind one of the broken robotic arms for cover. Mikey joined him, ducking down behind the robot arm himself. I half-saw the boy throw his arms around my brother when he got close enough.

I jumped back to my feet, picking up my sword that I'd dropped during the fall and ran to stand beside my friend, my blade raised at our opponent.

"What are you doing?!" I barked at him angrily as I faced Tibalt again.

"You were in peril!" He replied.

"Well That's just great!" Was all I had time to say in return as Tibalt rounded on the two of us with a vengeance.

He brought the damaged tentacle down between us so that we had to jump in opposite directions to prevent getting crushed. Raph had by now regained his senses and pounced Tibalt directly, grabbing him around the chest and neck before arching him backwards, trying to subdue him. Tibalt struggled violently against him before reaching back, grabbing hold of Raph, and flipping him over, throwing him to the ground painfully where he proceeded to bring down his knee on my brother's gut as hard as he could. I winced at the sight.

Usagi leapt forward, swinging his Katana with blinding speed. Again there was the slight jitter, but I waited for my chance and just as I saw the strange flicker subside I flew forward. Tibalt barely had enough time to twist himself around and out of the way. My blade caught on the jacket of his suit and tore it open at the chest. He snarled and lashed out sideways with the tentacle, hitting both me and Usagi and striking us to the ground.

I choked and coughed, a sour, metallic taste growing in my mouth. I forced my head up to see the man approaching me meaningfully. I scrambled around for my sword again, keeping my eyes on him with as much hatred as I could

"_I struck you down once, I'll do it again!"_ I screamed threateningly, finding the hilt of my blade and slicing upwards with it as a warning.

Tibalt froze at this, the same, unearthly smile twisting on his face.

"I believe you are mistaken, Hamato Leonardo!" He leered at me. "I don't believe I've ever had the pleasure! You must be mistaking me for some-one else!"

"_Yeah right!"_ I sliced at the air in his direction, urging him to stay back. _"Like there's ANOTHER red tentacled mind-screwing FREAK out there!"_

Tibalt burst out laughing at this. "As if you're one to talk!" He calmed down again, sneering at me. "But I'm not lying. You really do have me confused. You see, I am merely a vassal, a servant if you will."

The red appendage struck again, knocking me back and to the ground once more. Tibalt took a few steps closer.

"You mistake me for My Boss. Although I am flattered, I feel you should get your facts straight before you spew out accusations!"

The tentacle shot out again before I had time to react, still reeling from the last blow it gave me. I felt it wrap itself around my neck and throat before it started to squeeze. I struggled, trying to locate my katana.

"You see, after your last encounter with My Boss in which you destroyed his body, he has anxiously been trying to find a way back into this physical realm." He tightened his grip on my throat. I felt a pain-filled rattle escape me.

"Oh it has been hard, finding servants to do his bidding when he had no way of communicating apart from telephones and radios, often coming across as nothing but white noise, but for those of us desperate enough, his voice could still be heard." He dragged me across the floor, lifting me up to face him eye to eye.

"He needed a way back into this world, to be able to continue his entrapment of those who want wealth, power and success _badly_ enough. For that he needed a 'spokesperson' if you will. He needed _me_."

I struggled against the coil around my throat, but I could feel myself weakening. Dark clouds were starting to fog my vision as my chest grew tight and white-hot, begging me for air.

All of a sudden, ice cold breath flooded back into me as I felt myself dropping, hitting the floor where I choked and gasped, trying to fill my resisting lungs. I twisted myself around, forcing my eyes to focus.

Tibalt had released me, turning in place to strike out at some-one who'd tried to attack him from behind while he was distracted. I heard the clatter of Japanese steel hitting the ground and an agonized yell.

"_Ouji-san!!"_ A child's voice screamed, sounding shrill and hysterical.

I twisted to see the red appendage wrapped around Usagi, pinning his arms to his sides as it coiled itself around him. He grit his teeth, struggling against it as he lashed out with one of his long legs, kicking it hard. Tibalt didn't so much as flinch, raising him a feet feet in the air before, to my horror, he slammed the samurai against the ground with full force.

"_OUJI-SAN!!" _ Jotaro screamed.

He was still ducked down behind the robotic arm with Mikey, but when I turned to him I nearly choked on my own gasp to see the child spring over the wreckage, terror on his face as he charged the stricken figure of Usagi.

Mikey was after him like a flash, leaping over the robotic arm himself before he broke into a gallop to stop the boy. Tibalt raised Usagi again. I could see the samurai struggle once more, just as furiously, but even from this distance the sharp, piercing colour of crimson on white fur caught my eye as blood seeped from his mouth and nose. Tibalt lifted him again before smashing him down as hard as he could a second time. Mikey dove forward, catching Jotaro around his middle and physically dragging him backwards and away from the scene. Jotaro fought him all the way, desperate to help Usagi.

An ear-splitting crackle suddenly filled the room, like a strike of lightening that was drawn out longer than possible. I turned my head around towards the portal.

The first thing that caught my attention was the figure of Donny struggling to his elbows shakily, but I only kept my gaze on him for a split second when I saw the swirling blue vortex had changed. A long, pulsating white line had sliced the spinning oval in half. It crackled again, the metallic structure shaking with strain as a sudden flurry of cyan blue blots of energy shot outwards from the oval, striking walls and floor and broken control panels wherever they landed. The white line through the centre of the oval widened, then divided itself into 2, slowly separating from each other to form a dark, black third line in-between them which grew in size. From this slit I could see long, eager coils inch their way forwards before they slowly pierced through the last dimensional wall of the portal and slowly started to bleed into the room itself.

Tibalt broke into a large, toothy smile once again, his own red appendage unwrapping itself from Usagi and promptly dropping him to the ground like a burlap sack. I forced myself to my feet, forgetting about my sword as I shot forward towards my stricken friend, but before I got close enough I felt myself once again wrapped up by a thick, muscular tentacle, this time coming from the portal itself. There was another crackle from the gate and I heard an otherworldly roar echo from it. Another slew of blue blasts shot across the room.

"_Look out!!"_ Some-one yelled.

I nearly broke my own neck as I spun my head around to the cry, just in time to see Mikey tense his hands on the small boy's shoulders and physically shove him as hard as he could. Jotaro hit the ground and rolled a good few paces away, just as one of the blue strikes of energy hit Mikey dead-on.

"_NO!"_ I went berserk, thrashing against the coil wrapped around my torso, my eyes glued to my little brother as he collapsed in a heap to the ground.

"_Mikey-san!!"_ Jotaro Screamed, springing to his feet.

"_Michelangelo!!"_ Raph cried out, shaking off his daze as he leapt up as well, shooting forward before dropping to his knees beside the unmoving form.

"_TEME!"_ An enraged scream came from my friend as he jumped up, stumbled, then charged Tibalt like he was going to rip him to shreds.

Tibalt dodged the strike from Usagi's katana, side-stepping the second strike as well before he ducked and threw his palm upwards, striking the samurai in the jaw. Usagi stumbled backwards, giving his head a hard shake before pouncing forward again. He sliced with his sword but changed the direction of the blow in mid-air, bringing it down at a different angle than expected, giving Tibalt a long gash across his cheek. Tibalt gave a surprised yelp, staggering back a few steps, a hand flying up to the wound. He blinked at the blood on his hand before he turned to give Usagi a wide, evil smirk.

"You fight well, _ronin_!" He sneered

Usagi didn't reply, thrusting forward again with his sword. Tibalt dodged the strike, turned in place before bringing up his knee, striking it upwards right into Usagi's ribcage. Usagi gave a choked breath before he spat blood, He swayed in place slightly before he recovered, raising his sword for another attack.

"Do you know _why_ I chose your dimension to get Bishop's precious little 'sample'?!" Tibalt said, his grin widening. He was taking great enjoyment from infuriating the rabbit even further.

Usagi didn't answer, slicing at the air. Tibalt dodged it, throwing out a hand and grabbing Usagi by the wrist, twisting it violently and forcing the samurai to drop his weapon. His eyes flashed.

"It's because when My Boss was trapped between realities, unable to do anything but wait and observe all the stupid, greedy mortals in the physical planes around him, he noticed _your_ world. So juicy and _rank_ with treachery, greed and lust! Your own leaders set against each other, thirsty for more of everything! More servants, more land, more wealth, more power, more prestige!! Family members ready to cut down their own flesh and blood if it meant a higher seat in power! From the highest politicians trying to tear scraps of territory from each other to the lowest peasant scum slitting throats on the roads for a meagre purses of copper! The allure of it drove My Boss _Crazy!_ He had to have it! He _had_ to plant his seed in that realm as well as this one!"

He twisted Usagi's wrist a little further, causing the samurai to give a strangled cry of pain. "But for that he needed a vessel! He had me, but I had no chance of moving around your world without drawing attention! So he needed some-one else, some-one who could fit in seamlessly and spread his influence! So when Bishop asked me for a sample, I provided him with one... but in truth I was merely letting him play with what would eventually become _our_ servant!!"

He released Usagi's wrist, giving him a hard kick in the gut, striking him to the ground. Usagi gave a sharp cry, landing on his back. Tibalt took a few steps closer, looming over him.

"However, children are hard to seduce. For all the selfish wants of a child, all they truly desire is a future. Everything else they yearn and pine for are merely idle fantasies. They have no concept of true desires. So they are difficult to influence and coerce into doing My Boss's bidding. Not impossible, but difficult."

Usagi stared at him wide-eyed, scrambling around until he found his sword again before he leapt to his feet to the face the man, his blade raised. However Tibalt made no move to attack him, staring deeply into him with dark eyes.

"But then..._you_ fell into my lap, masterless samurai. You are young, but you are most certainly an adult and must have desires and yearnings like every-one else." His smile widened. "There is much that you could gain by succumbing to us."

Usagi's face hardened and he raised his katana a little higher. _"You speak as if you expect me to turn my back on my friends and family, demon! You ask me to throw away honour and dignity and loyalty for my own profit!! Treachery is something I abhor above all else!! You cannot seduce me!!_"

Tibalt gave a dark, low chuckle at this.

"You say that now, but you haven't even stopped to consider what it is I offer you. Think about it. The lives of your friends, the lives of your family. If that is something your heart cherishes then we will spare them. For _you_. But that is only the beginning."

Tibalt's long red appendage twisted itself slowly, encircling the space around them.

A little further off I could see Raph and Jotaro. Raph was gripping Mike to his chest tightly with one arm, his other curled protectively around the little boy as he stared at Usagi and Tibalt. The dark slit in the portal had widened to nearly fill the entire oval, countless numbers of the red tentacles writhing and squirming from the opening as they tore their way further and further into this dimension. I could make out the figure of the enormous beast behind them approaching, it's central, large eye shinning blindingly bright into the room, turning the blue light from the portal red.

Usagi stared hatefully at Tibalt, his sword still raised aggressively.

Tibalt smiled at him, almost affectionately.

"What is it you yearn for most strongly, Miyamoto Usagi? Is it Power you desire?" He paused for a moment, looking Usagi over. "No. No not power, and it isn't wealth. You are friends with numerous wanted men and women who could line your purse handsomely if you turned them in, yet this thought has never crossed your mind." His eyes narrowed thoughtfully. Usagi refused to budge, still glaring venomously at the man. "Perhaps servitude then?" Tibalt continued. "You who are a ronin with no-one to pledge your sword to. But then... no. Your beliefs are too loyal to those who have perished and you see yourself as being loyal to them still. But there must be _something_. All beings crave something they don't have."

He went silent, his eyes narrowing to a squint as he stared at the samurai, unmoving and still as he bore holes into him with his eyes. Usagi didn't show any trace of being unnerved, glaring back just as hard, his blade still at the ready. Tibalt's eyes relaxed and he blinked before he broke into a wide, victorious smile.

"Aaah. I see. There is a woman."

Usagi's glare faltered and he blinked at this.

Tibalt laughed. "But then... isn't there always?" His smile became dark and serious again. "You hide it well, but I can see your heart aches for her. Her and the family you have been denied. Your own family who live their lives without you."

Usagi's face twisted into something painful, as if he'd swallowed something acidic.

"We can grant you your wish Miyamoto Usagi." Tibalt said.

Usagi blinked again before shutting his eyes tightly for a moment, giving his head a sharp shake before focusing on Tibalt again. From my position, still trapped by the tentacle wrapped around me, I felt my pulse speed up as I watched my friend.

"The peace you cannot afford." Tibalt continued. "The Woman you cannot touch. The son who doesn't recognize you. We can grant you your desires Miyamoto. All that you yearn for, all that life has denied you, it lies before you for the taking. All you need to do is say '_Yes_'...."

Usag blinked, his eyes wide as he stared at the man standing in front of him. There was a long, breathless moment in which no-one moved. The chaos of the room swirling all around us as the monster continued its slow approach through the portal. Long clawed hands could be seen grasping for the edge of the oval, looking for a hold to grab onto so it could pull itself out and free. Donny sat on the ground next to the gate, his face pale and his eyes wide as he stared in frozen panic at the scene encasing us.

Usagi blinked again, his gaze cast to the floor, his pink eyes darting around as if looking for something as he thought. I was breathing without taking in any air. He wasn't considering it! There's no way he could be taking this seriously! He can't do it! He _can't_!! It would spell doom for him! For _us!_ For both our worlds and dimensions! Usagi is kind and brave and loyal to a fault! He's a living martyr who would, very literally, cut himself open if it meant it would help a friend! He would never cave under the empty promises of a monster who stole his son and put us all in mortal danger!

His confused expression changed into a more serious one as he lifted his head again, his face becoming hard-set as he stared back at the man in front of him purposefully. Tibalt stared at him expectantly, remaining silent.

Usagi stared him down for a few moments before he lifted his sword, held it out at arms length, and then dropped it.

The clatter the blade made when it hit the ground cut through all other sounds in the air. My blood turned to ice in my veins, my breath seized in my lungs.

No.

Tibalt's smile widened even further as he beamed darkly at the white-furred samurai standing in front of him.

"You make a very wise choice, Miyamoto Usagi." Tibalt purred.

Usagi gave a single nod. "Yes." He answered. He stared at the man for a few moments before he added; "My short sword has a much quicker strike."

Tibalt blinked, his smile twisting in confusion.

Usagi shot forward, his hand to the hilt of his _wakizashi_ still in its sheath at his side. He lunged, faster than my eye could follow. He drew the shorter blade from its scabbard, arcing it forward before burying deep and hard into the blue-suited man's chest, the blade disappearing from sight.

Tibalt gave an unearthly scream, arching as Usagi dug the blade deeper inwards still, thrusting forward with every scrap of strength he had in him, forcing the man back, back, until he tipped him off balance. Tibalt fell, Usagi tumbling down with him before they both crashed to the ground. When Tibalt's body made impact it cracked and crumbled, as if he was made of dried mud. Hairline cracks shooting across his flesh before he broke apart and burst into dust. There was a blinding flash of red light before ash clouded into the air, blasting outwards before calming, falling and getting lost in the portal's wind.

Usagi twisted himself around onto his back, his eyes wide as he stared at the portal.

"_Donatello!!" _He screamed.

I twisted my head just in time to see Donny drop the calculator, turn, and dive away from the structure as it shuddered, rumbled and then burst into a white, scorching halo. There was a deafening, ancient roar from an inhuman throat before the white light erupted, causing the entire room to shake and bits of machinery, electronics and rubble to go shooting outwards from the portal, slamming against the walls. I felt the coil around me release its grip in a single instant, causing me to crash to the ground. I didn't even give myself enough time to recover from the blow, jumping to my feet and looking around, trying to blink away the red spots burnt into my retina from the light.

Donny had been knocked off his feet, but even as I watched he pushed himself upright again. Raph had slung the inert figure of Michelangelo onto his back, Jotaro clinging to his belt as he gaped at the destroyed machine with a terror-stricken, wide-eyed stare. Usagi was pushing himself off the ground, stumbling before he recovered his katana, replacing it in its sheath.

I took a shuddering breath, moving towards him as fast as I could.

Before I was able to reach him another tremor shook the room. I twisted my gaze back to the gate, but the oval had broken. Slabs and twisted pieces of metal had been torn clean off, leaving nothing but a scorched, black, half-moon shape, the centre of it showing nothing but the blank, ruined wall of the room behind it. Severed, oozing tentacles lay squirming and writhing everywhere. The nauseating, sweet smell of scorched flesh hung heavy in the air as smoke swirled from the wreckage of the machine. There was nothing that could suggest a second tremor.

A third tremor shook us, this time causing one of the remaining robotic arms in the ceiling to groan and drop slightly, its support structure failing it. I ran towards Usagi, grabbing his arm and steadying him as I twisted myself to Donny.

"_Don what's happening?!"_ I screamed frantically.

Donny's gaze was flitting around the room in panic before he turned it to me. _"Bishop must've rigged that security code to not only destroy the gate but the entire base!!"_

I gave a furious growl, turning and leading Usagi towards Raph, Mikey and Jotaro. Donny moved to follow us.

"_We need to leave! NOW!"_ I ordered, making sure we were all together before I broke into a run, heading for the nearest exit.

Usagi scooped his son onto his back before he followed, Raph carrying Mikey while Don sprinted ahead to lead the way, back to the shell sub.

"_Bishop you BASTARD!" _I heard Raph yell.

**Xxxxx**

_Not much more to go!_

_I might have screwed up on the Japanese ^^; if so please let me know and how to fix it!  
_

_BETA thanks goes to Arwing_


	38. Escape

_I don't own TMNT or UY._

**Xxxxx**

The base shuddered again as we ran. I Kept my eyes on the figure of Donny as he lead us down the twisting passages, following his mental map back to the docking platform and the shell sub. I had no idea where we were, and I was endlessly grateful that Don's memory was as sharp as it was. Behind me Usagi ran to keep up, Jotaro riding on his back as, behind him, Raph carried Mikey on his. Our little brother hadn't budged an inch since he was struck by the bolt of energy. I was keeping all my attention on getting out of here, but I could still feel panic sitting in the pit of my stomach, ready to pounce and choke me if I dared to focus on it. I kept my eyes on Donny, checking every few moments to make sure we were all still together before I turned my eyes back to the front. Despite my concentration on escaping and my reflexes working in overdrive the deep, dark thought was still swirling in the back of my mind; Mikey's hurt.

I forced the fear back down as I half turned to Usagi as we ran.

"Usagi! I can carry the boy if you're hurt!" I called. I hadn't forgotten the hard blows Tibalt had given him, and his muzzle was still stained dark, blackish red with blood.

He gave me a pointed look. "Do you honestly believe I would let him go _now_ Leonardo?"

I nodded, turning back to the front. "Fair enough! But don't you dare push yourself more than you need to! You get tired you tell me right away ok?!"

"You have my word!" He replied.

Jotaro was ignoring the conversation he couldn't understand, his eyes fixed on the figure of Michelangelo with large, watery eyes. Raph said nothing, a deep scowl on his face he ran, his teeth clenched.

We'd bolted from the portal room and, some-how, managed to manoeuvre through the dark corridor and back into the lit passages of the base. From there Donny acted as our guide, sprinting as fast as he could through the hallways, back towards the shell sub. Every few moments the base would shake and rumble, loud metallic groans echoing from deep within its structure. We had a scare at one point when the place gave a violent lurch and one of the fire doors broke free from the slot in the ceiling and crashed down only a foot or so in front of Donny. It was luck alone that stopped Don from getting crushed under the heavy metal slab as he stumbled backwards and away from the danger. After the close call we'd been on our guard for any other dangers such as crumbling hallways, heavy machines dropping from above us or fire. I could smell smoke in the air and every now and then the larger booming rumble of the base would be punctuated by smaller, more violent explosions of glass and the sound of flames erupting.

Each time the base shook it was louder and harder than the last. The last tremor was so strong it threw us against one of the walls. I nearly fell over completely, wincing as I hit the side of the passage, reminding me of the still-fresh injuries I'd received during our battle. The area around my gut under my plastron was throbbing in pain and it felt difficult to swallow as my throat swelled slightly from almost being strangled. I ignored the pain, redirecting it to a corner of my mind as Master Splinter had taught me to do. I had to focus on the here and now and on getting every-body out of here and to safety.

I pushed myself away from the wall again, doing a quick once-over to make sure every-one was alright before I turned to the front again.

"Come on!" I urged them. "We need to get out here before this whole place blows!"

"What d'ya think we've been doin'?!" Raph snapped, adjusting Mikey before he went back into his run. His tone of voice was dripping with venom but I knew his anger wasn't directed at me. He was sick with worry, I could see it in his eyes.

I ignored him, focusing back on Donny instead as we continued our retreat.

Don led us onward, his eyes sharp as he looked around the area, taking sharp turns without hesitation.

As we ran I started seeing hallways blocked by rubble torn from the ceilings and walls. Some of them were littered with the cracked shells of machinery, electricity sparking violently among the wires and cables as glass littered the floor. I swallowed, hoping to high heaven that the route Donny was planning would remain clear of obstacles. We kept going, twisting and turning further and further away from the portal room.

"Leonardo!" A call from Usagi stopped me in my tracks and I spun to face him.

He trotted fowards until he was standing in front of me. He stopped, panting heavily as he caught his breath.

I blinked at him with concern. Jotaro leaned sideways on his back, inspecting the samurai's face with worry.

"Are you ok?" I asked, taking a step closer towards him.

He took a few deep breaths before he lifted his head and nodded. "I... I am alright but.. ..I cannot go on at this pace."

He stared at me with a pleading expression, breathing hard.

I stared back for a few moments before I gave a nod, holding out my arms. "Give him here."

Without a word Usagi slung Jotaro from his back, putting the boy in my arms where I quickly propped him on my shoulders.

Jotaro twisted his head to stare at Usagi anxiously but he didn't resist, grabbing hold of my shoulders once I'd gotten him into place.

"(Are you alright uncle?)" He asked worriedly.

Usagi gave a nod, straightening and giving the boy a reassuring smile as he turned to run again. "(I am alright Jotaro-kun. I just don't have the strength to carry you any further.)"

Jotaro made a small, tight noise in the back of his throat but nodded.

I made sure I had a firm hold on the boy before I started to run again myself, following the figures of my brothers.

We moved onward. The small boy held onto me firmly as I ran. He was trembling against me as his fingers dug into my skin. It hurt, but I didn't reprimand him for it. If anything the slight pain was keeping my mind sharp and focused, refusing to let me dwell on my fears.

Ahead, I saw Donny turn to take a corner before he skidded to a stop, his eyes widening. I frowned, speeding up to stand beside him.

"What's wrong Don?" I turned to look down the fork myself.

The passage in front of us was blocked off. An immense slab of machinery had crashed through the roof of the passage, tearing through the metallic structure like wet paper before it'd smashed into the smooth, sleek floor. It's metallic shell had smashed open, littering the area with sharp, sparking electronics and pieces of hard-ware. Its open case revealed a twisted cat's cradle of cables and wires, hot threads of electricity jumping from wire to wire or climbing upwards among its circuitry.

"What's the hold up?!" Raph asked, catching up to us and stopping to look as well.

"Don... Please don't tell me this is the way we need to go." I said with a flat, shaky tone, not taking my eyes off the scene.

Donny took a small breath before he swallowed. "Actually.. ...as a matter of fact..."

"Oh that's just _great!_" Raph spat angrily. "_Fantastic!"_

"Relax Raph!" I snapped at him, surveying the area to see if there was a way around the blockade.

"Don't _tell_ me ta relax!!" He rounded on me, baring his teeth.

"Look just shut up for a moment and let me think!" I shot back, still looking around for an alternative route.

"Think about _what?!" _Raph yelled, his voice rising. "We're trapped Leo!! Trapped like rats on a sinking ship!"

"Raph lay off him!" Donny suddenly spoke up sharply, shooting Raph a serious glare.

Raph turned to snarl at him instead. "Aw shut up Don!! No-one asked ya for _your_ opinion!!"

"_Raphael-san!"_ Usagi interrupted with a loud, commanding tone of voice. He glared icily at my brother. "This is no time to lash out at each other! We must keep our heads and find another way out of here! Turning on your brothers will not help matters!"

Raph growled at him darkly but kept his mouth shut, taking deep, hoarse breaths as he tried to calm down.

Usagi gave him a long, stern glare before he turned back Donny. "Is there another way to your underwater contraption from here Donatello-san?"

Donny frowned, putting the tip of his muzzle to his hand as he thought deeply, his brow furrowing. I waited anxiously for the answer, staring back at the ruined passage. I felt Jotaro shift slightly against me, his grip tightening as he gave a small, frightened whimper. I knew he had no idea what we were saying to each other, but I was sure he'd figured out we were stuck. Why else would we have stopped like this with Raph suddenly yelling at us. I gave his legs a gentle squeeze with my hands from where I was holding onto him.

"(It's ok)" I said softly, turning my head upwards to try and look at him. "(It'll be alright)"

He blinked down at me, fighting back scared tears. He gave a small nod though, swallowing as he pressed himself closer against my shoulders and head, hugging me tightly. I squeezed him again. He really seemed like a good boy. If we get out of here... _when_ we get out of here, I want to try and get to know him a little better.

Donny looked up again, his frown softening slightly as he stared at me. "If I remember right there's another route we could take more to the west. It'll take us in the opposite direction for a while but it should arc back to the docking bay."

"How long is that gonna take?!" Raph grumbled irritably.

Donny turned to give him an angry look. "I don't know ok?! But it's the only option we have!"

"Well whatever we do let's do it fast!" Raph growled back, baring his teeth at Donny slightly. His temper flared only for a moment though before he backed off again, giving Don a much more serious look. "Mikey ain't doin' so good."

Donny blinked his frown away, staring at Raph before he gave a shaky nod in sudden understanding.

"Then let us move!" Usagi interrupted, turning to Don. "Which direction do we take?"

Donny shook his head lightly, focusing back on reality as he turned to Usagi. "This way. Follow me."

He turned and quickly started to run in the opposite direction. Usagi followed closely behind, Raph and I hot on his heels.

I sped up till I could keep pace with Raph. I turned my eyes for a brief moment to Mike before I focused on my impulsive brother.

"How bad is he?" I asked nervously.

Raph's frown twitched as it deepened a little.

"Bad." Was all he said in reply, speeding up his run.

The alternative route back to the dock was agonizingly long. The tremors were coming faster and shaking the base more violently as we ran until it was impossible to take more than a few long strides before another shudder ran through the base, causing us to stumble. More and more passages we passed were blocked off or engulfed in flames. By some miracle our path remained clear, despite the growing destruction and increasing dangers around us. My lungs were burning as I felt my strength run out, causing me to slow down. My injuries from before began to ache a little more strongly as I panted. Yet I refused to stop. Every time I thought I couldn't run any further I'd find the strength to take another stride, forcing myself onwards. Eventually, I found my second wind, enabling me to fall into a steady pace, my eyes fixed on Donny's shell as he ran ahead of me.

Finally, after what felt like an endless endurance test we turned a corner into a much larger hallway and I saw a very high arch ahead of us leading to a deserted, stretching platform. I could smell the salty sting of the bay's water. I took a deep, quavering breath as I found the strength for an extra burst of speed, clearing the last stretch of hallway before I found myself running across the large, open space of the dock.

After the tight, claustrophobic passage ways and the enclosed war-zone of the portal room, the open dock with its high cavernous ceiling and wide stretch of water felt enormous to me. I ran forward to the edge of the platform before coming to a stop.

The surface of the water was boiling angrily as the base shook and trembled. Several of the large metal crates had tumbled over each other, their neat piles thrown into disarray. Only two of Bishop's underwater vehicles were still moored to the dock, tugging angrily at their lines as the waves thrashed at them.

Jotaro gave a small, horrified cry, his hands tightening on me as he stared at the water on front of us. I squeezes his legs again, more urgently this time.

"(It's alright Jotaru-kun! It's gonna be fine!)" I reassured him.

Donny took a running leap, sprinting the last few strides to the edge of the dock before he threw his arms forward, diving into the angry water and out of sight in the direction of the shell sub. Usagi came to stand beside me, staring after Don with concern before he lifted his gaze to Jotaro.

"(Are you still holding out?)" He asked with an anxious expression.

Jotaro turned to give him a shaking nod. "(Yes but... Usagi-san, how are we going to get away from here?!)"

Usagi gave him a serious stare. "(Do not worry. Donatello-san will get us out.)"

"Leo!" Raph's voice caught my attention and I spun to face him.

He was standing close by, but his gaze wasn't on me. He had twisted his head back to stare at Mikey. I could see his shoulders tensing and his grip on our little brother tighten.

I felt my cheeks burn with a sudden rush of blood.

"Raph... Raph what's wrong?!" I asked urgently.

Raph turned to give me an uncharacteristically frightened stare. "Leo we gotta get him outta here! _Now!"_

My breath sped up as I felt myself start to tremble. "What's _wrong_??" I asked again, my voice rising.

Raph gave his head a violent shake. "I don't know! Just... somethin' don't feel right all of a sudden!! We gotta get him inside and check him!!"

"What is the matter?!" Usagi interrupted, rounding me to stand beside Raph, a deep frown on his face.

"_Look I just said I don't know!!" _Raph burst out furiously at him, causing Usagi to jump. _"We just gotta check him!! We gotta check him NOW!!"_

"Raph get a hold of yourself!!" I yelled, trying to fight down my panic.

There was a loud crash of water before a wave spilled over the edge of the dock, water rushing past my ankles as the Shell Sub surfaced. The top hatch flew open and Donny's head popped out. He waved an arm at us frantically.

"Get in get in!!" He yelled before ducking out of sight again.

I leapt forward, tightening my hold on the child as I landed on the roof of the sub. My feet slipped slightly and I stumbled on its wet surface. Jotaro gave an alarmed yelp, his arms flying up to wrap around my neck. I managed to regain my balance before I dropped inside the hatch, quickly clearing the way for the others to follow. Raph and Mikey came first, followed closely by Usagi. Once they were all in I hurriedly knelt down and tugged the child off my shoulders before I clambered up the ladder, grabbing the hatch and shutting it tight. I twisted the wheel fixed to it as hard as I could before I turned to look over my shoulder to Don.

"Go go go!!" I shouted.

Donny didn't waste a single second, diving under the stormy water before he shot us forward at full speed, rocketing through the tunnel leading to the bay. I felt the sub tremble as a muffled boom filled the cavern behind us. The cold blue lights of the underwater tunnel burst one by one, sending thin shards of glass across the sub's frontal window as Donny continued to careen forward. I had to keep a tight grip on the hatch's ladder to stop myself from falling over. Usagi moved forward, putting his arms around Jotaro and hugging him close for protection as he stared through the window of the vehicle, his eyes wide. Raph crouched low the ground, Mikey clutched firmly in his arms as he curled himself over him protectively, his eyes shut tight.

We shot forward almost uncontrollably as the growing tremor behind us chased us down, the tunnel vibrating and clouding over with slit and and mud. Large cracks were running along the roof, trying to outrun us as behind us large hunks of rock fell from the ceiling. We continued to shoot forward, Donny forcing the machine into overdrive as he tried to outrun the destruction. There was a sudden lurch as the whole sub was thrown forward, through the mouth of the tunnel and out into open, the jet of water forced out by the tunnel's collapse giving us the last extra push we needed before the entire entrance caved in on itself, sending a large cloud of murky dirt into the surrounding water.

The Shell sub spun out of control for a moment and I found myself slammed against the wall of it as I tightened my grip on the ladder. The sub reeled for only a moment longer before Don got it back under control, slowing it down before easing it into a calm, levelled pace. The rumbling sound of boulders crashing against each other becoming distant and faint.

I let out a long, shaking breath, easing my grip on the ladder as I sunk to the floor of the sub. My heart was beating irregularly and I felt woozy.

We made it. We were out.

"_Leo!!"_ Raph's voice felt like a bucket of ice to the face.

My eyes snapped open and I spun to face him.

He sat on his knees, staring up at me with wide, terrified eyes. His face was pale and he was shaking as he clutched Mikey in his arms tightly.

My stomach rolled and I dropped down beside him. "Raph What's wrong?!"

He shook his head at me wildly, his face twisting. He was trembling all over. _"Leo! I can't.... I don' feel Anythin'!! Mikey ain't breathin'!!"_

"_WHAT?!"_ Donny's voice sounded like a whip crack as he spun around in his seat.

I leaned forward frantically, my heart pounding in my eardrums as I put my hands to Mike's chest, staring him in the face as I felt my skin break out in a cold sweat.

The light scratches and ridges on the bone of his plastron felt rough against my skin as I pressed my hand down. No breath rose to meet my hand, and no pulse could be felt beating against my fingers. His face was still and expressionless, his eyes shut calmly. He looked ashen, his skin cool, and dry to the touch. His lips were parted just barely, in the corners of his mouth I could see a small fleck of foam.

I Gave my head a violent shake. _"No! NO!"_

I grabbed my youngest brother by his shoulders, hard, my hands shaking uncontrollably. _"Raph lie him down!! HURRY!!"_

Raph gave his own head a hard shake. His shoulders gave a powerful spasm. _"Leo He's dead!!"_

"_He's not dead Raph!!" _ I screamed at him. _"Lie him down!! For God's sake LIE HIM DOWN!"_

Raph burst into tears_. "Leo He's DEAD!!"_

**Xxxxx**

_._


	39. Death

_I don't own TMNT or UY._

**Xxxxx**

I felt good.

Weird.

I mean... I wasn't suppose to was I? Doesn't really make much sense if you think about it.

There'd been a burst of light and I could remember pain shooting through me. It'd only lasted a second but man, did it hurt!

Even so though, I felt good. No. I felt better than good. I felt great.

The world was dark and quiet. But it felt warm and safe.

I felt great. I'd done something good. Something very good and I knew it.

I'd saved Jotaro. Usagi had trusted me with his safety, and when it mattered the most, when the worst kind of danger lashed out at him, I was able to protect him. Oh yeah sure I saved him from his containment tube thing... but this was different.

Jotaro would've been killed for sure if that bolt of energy hit him, but I was able to stop him from getting hurt. All by myself. Without any-one needing to _tell_ me to save him or to push him out of the way or to do the right thing. I didn't even need to think about it. I didn't need to stop and decide what would be the right thing to do. Not one thought crossed my mind when I grabbed the boy and threw him out of the way. I simply just reacted.

Somewhere, in the very back of my mind, I knew I was leaving myself an open target for the bolt. That, in focusing on the boy's safety and not my own, I was probably gonna get badly hurt myself. I was totally aware of this, of what it would mean to me, to my safety, and yet.... not once did it matter to me.

'Save the kid.' Something inside me had said. He was such a sweet boy, and he meant so much to Usagi.

Usagi loves him. He loves him so much.

Jotaro was so important. He wasn't my son, or brother or anything else to me. I hadn't even known him long enough to call him a friend. But I accepted whatever fate threw at me with open arms... as long as he was unhurt.

Why?

But then... that's the beauty of it. It didn't matter why. It didn't matter at all. All that mattered was that I knew I did the right thing. On my own. Without thinking or worrying or choosing to. Just something inside me _knew_ what I had to do... and if the price for the boy's life was my own then hey! I'm cool with that.

Haha! Suck it Tibalt! You were wrong.

You were so wrong.

I am not a big, super-intelligent animal pretending to be something I'm not. I had more than my natural instincts to rely on. My morals were not _taught_ to me, nor do I think they even _can_ be taught.

Nothing you had said was true.

I have morals.

I have morals, and thoughts, and feelings. They're not something I built to change who I am. They _are_ who I am.

I'm me.

I may not always have been me. But here I am now.

I'm me.

Your lies were just empty illusions, and they can't hurt me any more.

Your spell is broken.

The animal in me is dead. It died... a very long time ago... You tricked me into thinking it was still there, waiting to be unleashed but... that's not true. It's not true at all.

I'm no animal.

I'm me.

...

It's dark and quiet here.

But I feel good.

It's warm, and I feel safe.

.....

_Mikey!_

My name.

That's weird. There's no-one else here. Who's calling me?

_Mikey!! Oh God NO!_

Was something wrong?

But it's so calm and peaceful here. How can anything be wrong?

_Michelangelo please!!_

I felt myself become concerned. I knew that voice. I knew that voice very well. Some-one was in trouble.

What's wrong? How can I help? Where are you?

_Mikey please breathe!! Please you CAN'T LEAVE US!!_

I don't want to.

No.

No! No I don't want to!

Leo? Leo where are you?!

_Breathe!!_

Breathe.

Breathe Mikey breathe.

....

It hurt.

**Xxxxx**

_._


	40. Homecoming

_I don't own TMNT or UY._

**Xxxxx**

I'd never been so scared in my whole life.

I lost it. I completely lost it.

I don't freak out easily. Ok, that's not really true, I freak out _very_ easily. But it's almost always in anger. There's a reason they call me the hot-head you know. I have a moto; Don't get scared, get angry. It's how I function, how I stop myself from freezing up. It's how I make sure I get the job done. Sometimes it spun a little outta control or I'd overreact to something or throw myself head first into danger, but whether I liked it or not, this was my coping mechanism.

Master Splinter had said I feel my emotions very strongly. Ain't that the truth! To be honest I don't like how easily I got mad. I sometimes snapped too easily or made serious mistakes 'cause I couldn't keep myself under control. But at least with anger I _could_ react.

But this....

I just lost it.

I knew something was wrong. Don't ask me how exactly 'cause I'm not sure I could tell you. It's just when we came to a stand-still on that dock thing, I just suddenly felt myself get worked up, knowing something wasn't right. Maybe something about Mike had physically changed, alerting me we had a problem. Maybe, despite my attention being all over the place, I had still been feeling his breath against my neck or something, so when it stopped I immediately became aware of the danger.

Once the sub'd stopped acting like a washing machine I'd checked Mikey over to see how he was doing. When I found he wasn't breathing I completely freaked out. I'd been worried about him for so long, and I don't just mean during the escape we'd somehow managed to pull off. For days he'd been acting weird and gloomy and stuck in a giant rut. I've been worried sick. Then he pulled his little stunt with the gun, then he completely broke down in front of me, spilling his guts, _then_ we got split up and I didn't see any trace of him 'till he came bursting into the portal room. And before you know it, he gets zapped by one of those damned energy bolts! My nerves were shot. By that point I was practically on the verge of hysterics already, but I could handle it. I needed to focus on getting outta the place and getting Mikey to safety. With that in mind I could handle it.

But then to have it all smash to pieces in front of me by finding out Mike wasn't breathing... it was just too much.

I went berserk.

Leo yelled at me, ordering me to put Mikey down so he could try and revive him, but I couldn't do it. I didn't wanna let go of him. Looking back on it I feel like a giant idiot for acting the way I did, even if my moment of insanity was brief. Thankfully, Leo is some-one who can somehow panic and think at the same time. He's got a mean arm on him too, and he hits pretty hard.

He snapped me outta it before getting me to let Mikey go. Once he got our little bro lying on his shell he went about trying to get his heart started again, trying to get him to breathe.

It wasn't pretty, and I remember sitting there, watching helplessly as Leo tried to save him. I was half aware of Donny jumping up from his seat and coming closer to assist. I wanted to do something, _anything_ to help, but there was nothing left for me to do. Trying to help when Don and Leo were already doing what they could would only make things worse. So I waited, my heart slamming against the inside of my plastron, the side of my face still stinging from Leo's strike.

I had tunnel vision, staring at Mike's face. My view was hidden every few moments by Leo as he breathed for him. I bit my lip, shaking my head hard. This wasn't happening. This had to be some kind of mistake, or one of Mikey's pranks or something. The whole situation just... lacked reality.

Something gripped my shoulder before squeezing it, hard. I twisted my head away from the horrifying scene and found myself face to face with Usagi. He'd put one of his hands on me, his other arm curled around his kid, clutching him close as the child stared at my brothers. The boy was crying.

Usagi's eyes bore into me as he gave me a heartbroken look. I felt a stab of pain run through me as I shook my head wildly at him, my vision blurring. Usagi said nothing, blinking silently at me almost with concern.

"_Dammit no!!"_ Leo sudden blurted out, giving me a bad jolt as I spun back to the scene.

Leo shook his head furiously. _"Mikey!!" _His face twisted as his eyes filled with tears. _"Oh God NO! Michelangelo please!!"_

He leaned forward, sharing his air with Mikey again before he pulled back. He was shaking all over, the carefully timed First Aid process of his was becoming frantic and unstable. Donny remained silent, keeping his beats on Mike's chest almost clinically steady and calculated in between Leo's breaths. His face was devoid of any emotion. He was shutting down, focusing only on his task.

Leo shook his head, putting a trembling hand to Mike's face, cupping his cheek. "_Mikey please breathe!! Please you CAN'T LEAVE US!!" _He didn't bother checking with Donny to see if it was time to give Mike air again, moving forward and doing it anyway. "_Breathe!!"_

There was a sudden, violent jerk and Leo nearly leapt backwards, pulling away from Mike sharply.

Mikey twitched... then gave a weak cough followed by a small, shaky breath.

Leo took a strangled breath himself, moving forward hurriedly. I blinked, pushing Usagi's hand off me, perhaps a little rougher than I meant to as I leaned closer as well.

"Back up guys back up!" Donny snapped, his hand flying out, trying to keep us at arms length. "For heaven's sake ease up! Give him some air!!"

I froze in place, my gaze locked on Mikey's face. I could see his eyes flicker as he took short, fevered breaths. He looked in pain.

Leo put a shaking hand to his own forehead. He looked faint.

Donny leaned over Mikey, his hands running over him furiously as he checked breath, pulse, eyes, chest. Don looked almost sickly he was so pale, his shoulders were trembling but he was somehow managing to keep his hands steady as he looked Mike over. I sat frozen, almost afraid to move, as if it would somehow cause everything to fall apart again.

Donny turned his head towards Leo. "We need to get him home. Right now." His voice sounded raspy.

Leo's eyes fluttered and he focused on Don again. "Is.. ..is he gonna be ok Donny?..."

Don pulled a face, his expression paining. "I don't.. ..I don't know. But we gotta move. We need Master Splinter. He.. ..He'll know what to do to help. He can fix this."

Leo nodded, agreeing with Don's childish faith in our father. Donny got to his feet and turned, stumbling back to his seat and steering the sub forward again. Leo moved closer to Mikey hesitantly, reaching out and placing a hand to his forehead carefully as he sat beside him.

I was afraid to get closer, although Lord knows I wanted to. I just stayed where I was, staring at the two of them. My heart was still pounding as if it wanted to burst out my chest and I could hear a ringing in my ears, but I felt more aware of myself. I could feel how badly I was shaking, how cold I felt, the feeling of tears running down my face. The world around me was flooding back into focus as my blind panic subsided.

There was a noise and I heard the tread of sandals on the ground. Usagi crouched down next to me, his son's hand gripped in his own firmly but gently. The boy was still staring at Mikey, but his breathless, horrified expression had been replaced by a tormented, anxious one. It wasn't much of an improvement. I somehow managed to tear my gaze away from my two bros to blink up at the rabbit. He stared at me, serious as all hell but with something sympathetic in his eyes.

"Raphael-san," His calm tone of voiced sounded forced, shaking just slightly. "Would you look after Jotaro-kun for just a moment?"

I blinked blankly at him before I gave a confused nod.

He gave me a nod back, letting the boy go and ushering him closer towards me. Jotaro didn't break his gaze from Mikey but he let himself get led over to me. Somehow, I found just enough sense left in me to be surprised when he put his arms around me very slightly, still staring distractedly at the scene but subconsciously looking for comfort. I didn't shrug him off, instead I put a hand on one of his shoulders, turning my attention back to Mikey and Leo.

Usagi got up before he went over to them, crouching to his knees beside Leo, inspecting my older brother's face with concern before he started speaking to him with a hushed voice. I couldn't hear what he was saying, but I knew whatever it was, it was meant to try and calm him.

"(He is not dead is he??)" Jotaro asked. His voice was very small.

I shook my head slowly. "(No.)"

The boy turned his eyes to mine anxiously. "(Will he be alright??)"

My shoulders tensed as I felt my eyes narrow slightly. "(I don't know.)"

Jotaro swallowed, turning to look back at Mikey. "(....I'm sorry Raphael-san!.... I.. ..I just wanted to help Usagi-san.. I .. ...I never meant.. ..I didn't mean....!)"

I gave my head a hurried shake, something knocking me out of my daze as I turned to give the kid a sharp frown. "(Hey. Hey! This ain't your fault! Don't even start with that kind of crap! If I were Mikey I'd have done the same damn thing! If you wanna blame someone for this blame us for being overly noble idiots! This was _not_ you fault! You hear?!)"

He blinked at me wide-eyed, his ears standing upright in stunned silence.

I glared at him for a moment before I calmed down, sinking back and looking away as I realised I'd just snapped at a child who had gone through enough shit for a whole life-time, let alone one night.

"(Sorry Kid.)" I mumbled to the floor. "(I just... ...I'm scared.)"

I didn't know how else to say it. I'm sure there was a better word to use but I hadn't practised my Japanese in a while, and it was the only word that seemed to describe how I was feeling accurately enough.

I felt his grip on me tighten a little. "(Mikey-san said.. ..he told me, you were very brave... ...)"

I felt my face pull into a painful expression. "(Sometimes that moron doesn't know what he's talking about.)"

Jotaro sunk a little at this, turning back to Mikey, saying nothing more. I risked turning back to look at the boy. He had a deeply troubled expression on his face. I felt my frown soften as I gave a sigh.

"(This ain't your fault kid. I swear.)" I said, a little less roughly this time.

"(He will be alright Raphael-san.)" The boy replied with an even tone of voice. "(I haven't thanked him yet.)"

I blinked at him for a moment before I gave a nod, turning back to Mikey, Leo and Usagi.

"(Yeah... and I still gotta whack him upside the head for scaring me like this.)"

----

There were rays of sunlight filtering through the water as we made our way home. I wasn't sure what time it was exactly. It must've been early still, but I'd lost all concept of time. To me it still felt like it was the middle of the night, despite the obvious sunshine above the water and the slowly drifting hulls of ships moving idly over our small sub.

We were all silent.

Leo remained vigilant by Mikey's side. Keeping an obsessive eye over him, making sure he was hanging in there. Usagi in the meantime remained glued beside Leo. He was watching Mikey with a deep-set frown, but he kept his thoughts to himself. I didn't like his expression. Usagi's not a pessimistic guy, in fact he's the complete opposite. He tends to hope for the best regardless of the odds... kinda like Mikey. I didn't know if his frown had anything to do with Mike's condition exactly or if he was perhaps thinking about other things. That Tibalt Bastard had said some pretty deep rooted stuff to him. I mean I didn't have a clue what the man was getting at exactly but you didn't need to be a genius to figure out he'd touched on some very sensitive issues. Hearing stuff like that would screw any-body up for a while.

There's also the possibility that Usagi's frown had something to do with pain. We'd all had our asses handed to us, but Usagi had taken some particularly hard knocks and unlike the rest of us, he had no protective shell to dull the blows. I was worried about him. We needed to focus on Mikey first and foremost, but I made it my personal mission not to forget the rabbit. He needed to be checked over as well.

Leo was calming down. This helped the atmosphere in the sub a lot. With Leo calmer, more focused and less hysterical it felt like the rest of us had a better idea of how we should feel as well. I guess that's the whole 'leader' thing in play right there. I poke fun and give him a hard time for it, but it's at times like these that I realise, to my own horror, how much I watched him just so I'd know how to behave and react in situations. Damn him.

Jotaro was still clinging to me. To be honest I wasn't sure how I felt about that. On the one hand I was a little uneasy, simply 'cause I didn't really know the boy and I was never really good with kids, I just don't know how to act around them. On the other hand, I found it was calming me down. I dunno what that was all about, but I didn't question it. I let him cling and didn't push him away.

After what felt like a trip through limbo we finally got back to the Lair. It felt strange. Almost surreal. The idea that a calm, safe, welcoming place should still exist after what we've been through seemed bizarre. Yet here we were, and our home was still standing and in one piece, and Master Splinter was still there, waiting dutifully for our return.

When we surfaced I saw him through the window of the sub, getting out from his lotus position as he stood up, placing his hands over his cane. Donny got the sub settled before he sprung up, clambering over the seat before running to get the hatch open. He twisted his head around, telling Leo and Usagi not to move Mikey. He was gonna get Master Splinter inside to look at him before he wanted to risk picking him up.

With that he leapt out the sub. I saw him through the glass almost slide on the wet surface of the vehicle as he stumbled frantically over to our Sensei. Master Splinter first greeted him with a hopeful smile, but upon seeing Don's panic his face crashed. I saw Donny go into a terrified ramble, indicating with his hands wildly. Master Splinter blinked, frowned, then pushed past him, marching towards the sub himself, hell's fury in his eyes.

Jotaro shifted his weight from one foot to the other next to me. I tore my attention away from the approaching figure of Splinter and towards the kid instead. He was still clutching me lightly, but he was looking around the interior of the sub restlessly. He said nothing, trying to keep silent but I could see he'd had his fill of all this and wanted to get somewhere less mechanical and safe.

Master Splinter dropped into the sub and was beside Michelangelo in a flash, inspecting him with a hard frown, his whiskers twitching in concentration. He didn't even acknowledge Usagi or Jotaro. I knew that look. That was a rat with only one concern on his mind right now.

It seems I've been seeing that expression a lot lately... a parent fretting over their kid I mean.

Jotaro sunk closer against me at the appearance of Splinter. He wasn't scared, just nervous and that probably had more to do with Splinter's expression than anything else. I stared at the boy thoughtfully for a moment, a deep frown on my face.

I turned back to the others. Splinter was running a hand over Mikey's forehead, frowning in concentration. Leo was sitting close by, watching Mikey's face anxiously. Usagi remained silent, frowning lightly to himself, keeping his eyes on Splinter but not interrupting.

I pulled a face to myself before I made a decision. I wanted to stay with Mikey. I wanted to stay here and know that he was gonna be ok. I wanted to be with my brother. But there were others watching out for him right now, and besides, I'd made Usagi a promise.

I got to my feet, picking the boy up and onto my shoulders before I walked to the sub's ladder and climbed out. No-one stopped me.

I made sure not to slip on the sub's wet surface as I climbed down and off it, my feet touching solid ground. I put the kid down again, taking his hand before walking him towards the couch. Donny ran past me in the other direction, a first aid kit cradled in his arms. I watched him go as I walked.

He clambered into the shell sub and out of sight, not showing any indication that he'd even seen me. I turned my gaze back to the front, making my way over to the entertainment area before I sat the boy on the couch, collapsing down next to him.

I gave a long, drawn out breath, closing my eyes. I kept them shut for a few moments before I opened them again, staring at the overly familiar room. I stared unseeingly for a minute or so before I turned back to the kid, feeling I should try and keep the boy calm until things cooled down. He must be scared.

I was a little startled to see he was staring at me with his large eyes. I blinked back at him before I opened my mouth to speak. I didn't get anything out though before he interrupted me.

"(It'll be alright Raphael-san.)" He said.

I blinked and closed my mouth, giving a shaky nod.

"(Yeah.)" Was all I could think to say.

He nodded back, shifting closer before he leaned himself against me. "(Mikey-san said your Sensei knows everything. It'll be ok now.)"

I felt my throat tighten as I gave another nod.

"(...Yeah.)"

----

Eventually he fell asleep, resting his head on one of my thighs. I sat silently, staring at nothing as I waited.

Splinter, Leo and the others had eventually clambered out of the shell sub, taking Mikey to Leo's room since it had a flat bed and not a raised bunk. I'd twisted my head to try and see how things were looking when they did, but I didn't wanna interrupt them and be a distraction.

I dunno if it was wishful thinking or my tired imagination or just me going crazy, but I thought things were looking better. Mikey had more colour to his cheeks and was breathing easier. I only caught a glimpse though, so I wasn't sure.

Since then I'd been left alone with the boy. We'd had nothing to say to each other and eventually he dozed off, curling himself in Usagi's kimono to keep warm. The thing was much too big for him, but it made for comfortable sleeping I suppose.

I waited, still anxious but not feeling as paralysed by fear as before. As they say, no news is good news right?

The boy slept quietly on my lap, breathing calmly, untroubled by dreams or bad memories. He felt warm against me, and his heartbeat was hypnotic. I felt myself getting groggy, my adrenaline spent and my fatigue getting the better of me. I started to doze off myself.

Before I was able to properly fall asleep though, soft footsteps woke me up again and I turned to see who it was.

Usagi blinked at me, stopping for a moment before coming closer again.

"I thought you had fallen asleep." He said quietly.

I shook my head. "Nah. But your kid wasn't so lucky." I pointed to the boy resting on my leg.

Usagi gave a small, tired smile, moving closer and sitting down beside me.

I was almost too afraid to ask.

"How's Mikey?"

Usagi gave a sigh and for a moment my heart froze before I realised he was doing so out of exhaustion. "We may all recite the sutras in gratitude tonight my friend. Mikey-kun will be alright. He has had a bad blow, but he will survive."

I sunk in my seat, exhaling as I closed my eyes. "Thank you God."

Usagi gave a nod, taking my blasphemy a little more seriously than I did. "Indeed."

I turned to look back at him, giving him a once over. I noticed the blood had been cleared from his face as much as possible apart from some places were it was caught in the fur. I was glad to see he'd not been forgotten in all this madness. Even so, I wasn't sure he'd been given the attention he needed.

"How ya holdin' up Long-Ears?" I asked, quite seriously.

He blinked, turning to look at me again. He gave a nod. "I am worn out. But in all honesty I am better than I have been in days."

I pulled a face. "Sure. But what about injuries. Ya badly hurt?"

He shook his head. "I do not believe I am seriously wounded. Although I might be saying otherwise tomorrow morning."

I made a noise and nodded. "I heard that."

Usagi stared at me, his expression slightly uncertain. "Raphael-san... do you mind if I....?"

I frowned, giving him a sideways glance. "Mind if ya what? Spit it out, I'm too tired ta try and read our mind."

Usagi nodded, holding a hand out towards Jotaro. "...My son."

I blinked. "Wha? Oh. Oh! Oh yeah sure." I shifted, gently lifting the boy off of me and getting up, letting Usagi slide over and take my place.

Jotaro shifted with a murmur but remained asleep, curling himself closer to Usagi as the rabbit put a hand to the boy's head, stroking it softly. He smiled to himself, almost sadly.

I watched him for a moment. "...Ya gonna be ok here by yerself?"

He lifted his gaze to me, giving a nod. "I will be fine."

I gave a nod. "Good. But don't hesitate ta give a shout if ya need us."

I turned and walked away at a brisk pace, heading for Leo's room, and for Mikey.

Finally... _finally..._ things were starting to feel less desperate, settling into something I could cope with. We were home. We might've been badly hurt, beyond exhausted and probably in need of some serious therapy, but we were home, we were together, and every-one was still alive.

I was almost too afraid to believe it, but I could slowly feel relief washing over me.

We were together, and every-one was still alive.

**Xxxxx**

_For those who haven't read UY, 'Long-Ears' as actually Genn's nickname for Usagi, not that Raph's aware of this :)_

_I hope those still following the story are still enjoying it in its last phases. It seems to have had a dramatic plummet in traffic suddenly. I hope it's not because the climax was a let down :'( *whinewhineemowhine*_

_Almost done.  
_


	41. Usagi and Leo

_I don't own TMNT or UY_

_Early update is early :) and thanks for all the encouragement guys!  
_

**Xxxxx**

"Mikey don't ya dare!!" Raph snapped aggressively.

Mikey turned his large blue eyes to him, blinking before he broke into a wide, cheeky grin and grabbed the last slice of pizza anyway.

"Dammit!" Raph lunged at him, trying to retrieve the slice. "Mikey ya _know_ I called dibs on the last piece!!"

"Awww." Mikey cooed at him, holding the slice out of his reach as he put his foot to Raph's plastron, keeping him at bay. "Did little Raphael have his heart set on the precious last slice?"

"Don't push it Mike! I swear I'll kill ya all over again!" Raph growled, trying to make a grab for the slice of pepperoni.

Mikey gave a laugh before he leaned onto his shell, stretching back on the couch and holding the piece out at arms length behind him for his accomplice to snatch.

"_Arigatou!" _The boy said with a wide grin before he took a large bite out of his prize.

"Aw well that's just great!" Raph said, sinking into a dark sulk before glaring at Mikey angrily. "Ya really play dirty ya know that?"

Mikey grinned, sticking his tongue out at him.

"Geez guys. It's not like we're all out. There's still half of the goat cheese and olives left over." Donny said, shaking his head with mock disgust.

Raph stared at him with an unimpressed expression. "Don. Do ya even hear yourself when ya talk?"

Usagi made a noise to himself and I turned to look at him. He was watching the scene with an almost tired expression.

"They are like gulls squabbling over a fisherman's scraps." he commented.

I rolled my eyes. "You should see them when April brings over some ice cream."

Usagi shook his head before he turned his attention to the boy. "(You should not encourage them Jotaro-kun.)"

Jotaro turned to blink at the samurai before giving a sheepish smile. "(I'm sorry Usagi-san!)"

Usagi sighed but smiled warmly at him anyway.

I smiled as well, taking a sip from my soda.

It'd been just over a week since we finally returned from our hellish experience with Tibalt, although it felt much longer to me. The way things were when we first got home and how they were right now felt like two different realities. Those first few hours were all a blur to me. Nothing but panic, fear and dread. I remember being so terrified I was hardly able to function at all. If Sensei hadn't been there I know I would've buckled under the stress and just fallen apart. Thank heaven for Master Splinter.

He'd kept us calm, telling us what to do, what to focus on and what we needed to look for. His tone of voice had been so clear, so commanding and certain that not once did I even consider the idea that he was scared out of his mind, just like the rest of us. He herded us like frightened children, calming us down and focusing our attentions. I had felt myself regain my sanity, feeling control flood back into me as I followed his orders, making sure Mikey was kept warm and would be ok.

It was a very long day and an even longer night. But Mikey held out, and by morning we could relax a little. The blue bolt of energy had given his system a very bad shock. He didn't have any serious burns or open wounds due to the strike. The only physical wounds he seemed to have were whatever Tibalt had managed to land on him during the fight. The scare he'd given us had come from his system shutting itself down after the strike of energy hit him. It had stretched my nerves to breaking point as we waited to see if he would survive the first night, severely weakened by the bolt as his body tried to gather enough strength to start the healing process. He didn't wake up, but when morning came without any scares or dangers we all breathed a little easier.

Once the initial shock was over Splinter insisted to look over the rest of us to be sure none of us were harbouring any injuries ourselves that we might be unaware of. Thankfully, no-one seemed seriously injured apart from some bad bruises and a few cuts and scratches.

Aside from Mikey, Usagi was probably the worst for wear. Tibalt had bruised some of his ribs rather badly when he smashed him against the ground and Master Splinter thought there was even the possibility of one being broken, but it wasn't life threatening and sadly, we couldn't do much but give him something for the pain and make sure he didn't exert himself, giving the injury time to heal. His wrist was also sprained which concerned the samurai as he was afraid it might affect the speed of his draw. Sensei assured him however that the injury wouldn't take too long to heal and that nothing was broken, but until then his swords should remain in their sheaths.

For this reason it was decided Usagi would be spending a little more time with us before he took Jotaro home. Usagi didn't argue, knowing it was for his own good. If he was attacked by bandits in his own dimension in this condition it would spell disaster.

I'd received some bad blows to my chest that were taking their time to heal but I had nothing serious bothering me. My neck was bruised, something which I could see really infuriated Master Splinter despite his efforts to hide it, but it would be ok. Raph had suffered some blows to the head but thankfully, my hot-headed brother had a very thick skull. He also put my final worries to rest the second day of our returned when he proceeded to demolish his punching bag in a fit of rage, working out his frustrations. Of the four of us, Donny was probably the best off with only a few bruises and cuts.

A testament to the success of our mission was the fact that Jotaro wasn't hurt at all. He was hungry, very tired and downright miserable for a few days, but he'd suffered no injuries. That in itself was a miracle. As much as I wanted to throttle him for scaring me, I silently praised Mikey. He'd done the right thing, and I knew he knew it.

On the third day he regained consciousness, much to every-one's relief. He was very groggy and spent most of the day asleep, but he could talk and he recognized all of us. Only then did I finally let myself feel fully relieved. I was still concerned, but I was able to accept that he was gonna be ok.

I think the only person more relieved than I was, was Raph. He'd hardly slept a wink since we got home and apart from the fit of rage on the second day of our return he'd been silent, spending most of his time brooding to himself darkly or vigilantly sitting by Mikey's side, glowering to himself. The second day home, when we got ourselves something to eat he'd declined the food, that is until Master Splinter shot him a very sharp, icy stare. Raph thought better of it and joined us, even if he didn't eat much. Sensei was in no mood for stubbornness, and Raph knew better than to get him angry.

I knew Raph and Mikey were close, but this felt like there was more to it than just that. At one point when things started getting better again I asked Raph if anything had happened in the base while we were out of contact that would fuel his concern to such an extreme but, typical Raph, he wouldn't elaborate. He simply told me Mikey and him went though 'some bad stuff' and that he was just happy Mike had gotten through it.

That was a gross understatement though. Mikey hadn't 'gotten through it', he'd risen above and beyond it. As he regained his strength and became more active I was beside myself to find him back to his old self; smiling, cheerful and, as much as he was able to be in his condition, annoying as hell. I didn't know what had triggered it, if it was some kind of sappy, Oprah-esque near-death experience thing or if something had happened while he was in the base or if knowing Tibalt was dead had helped him snap out of it. I was itching for him to tell me, but whenever I brought it up he evaded the question and changed the subject. Eventually I had to accept he wasn't gonna tell me, and I merely took comfort in the fact that, whatever had caused it, it seemed to have done the job. If Mikey was going to let me know what it was, he would have to do so in his own time. No amount of questioning from me was gonna get it out of him, that much was certain.

With Mikey on the mend, Jotaro brightened up too. Raph had pulled me aside at one point and told me the little boy felt somewhat responsible for what happened, and I'd made sure to let Usagi know. I didn't feel comfortable discussing it with the kid myself and I knew Usagi had a better idea how to handle the situation. But with Mikey getting better Jotaro seemed to forget his guilt and started acting more like a boy his age should.

He really was a great kid. He and Mike had become very close. I couldn't blame them. After all it'd been Mikey who'd first freed the boy, and then saved his life. Kids don't forget things like that, and Mikey was all for making new friends, especially ones who enjoyed mischief almost as much as he did.

The combined power of Mikey and Jotaro was a force to be reckoned with, I'll tell you that much. Still, I found great enjoyment in watching them goof around and drive Raph crazy. What made it even more hilarious was the fact that Raph was still too worried about Mikey to pound him, and he didn't dare lay a hand on Usagi's kid, so he had no ammunition other than threats and chasing the boy around the lair. Mikey wasn't up to a 100% yet and wasn't able to get into a proper scuffle with Raph, but I knew it wouldn't be long before they were fighting over the remote and breaking things in the wake of their struggles once again.

One thing that was interesting as much as it was heartbreaking to watch was Usagi's relationship with the boy. Watching how they talked, what they talked about and just their general interactions with each other really did give me the firm impression that I was watching a father and his son. But every time the boy would call his father by his first name or refer to him, however affectionately, as 'Ouji-san' I could feel my heart bleed for my friend. Never once however did Usagi show any sadness or regret about it though, talking happily and cheerful with the child about whatever the boy had to say. Usagi was also not above scolding him when he felt Jotaro was wearing Mikey out or being a nuisance, and in turn, Jotaro listened to him.

It was a very strange relationship to watch, both touching and heart-wrenching at the same time. I felt very removed from the whole thing. I couldn't help but feel that fate had really given Usagi the worst deal in the whole world. Usagi deserved to be happy and open to love his own son dammit! It bothered me. It bothered me so deeply I found myself getting openly aggravated about it, angry at whatever joker thought that that would be an interesting twist in Usagi's life.

Not to mention all that stuff Tibalt had said to him in the portal room. I knew from personal experience that this nightmare creature knew exactly how to tap into your thoughts and pull out whatever your deepest wishes and fears were so it could manipulate them. I knew the things it had touched on; family, Jotaro and whoever the woman was were all probably very real, and that these things really did hold a deep hurt for Usagi.

He deserved more than all this. It wasn't fair.

Usagi laughed as Raph got up threateningly and marched over to the boy, causing Jotaro to jump and take off across the base before Raph managed to grab him.

I smiled, giving a chuckle. "He's fast."

Usagi turned and gave me a smile. "He had better be with the look on your brother's face."

I gave him a sideways glance. "But you're not gonna jump in and help him are you?"

He grinned widely at me. "And spoil our entertainment? Not at all."

"Jeez Raph! You must be getting old!" Mikey teased as Raph ran after the kid. "Ya can't even catch one measly little bunny rabbit!"

"Keep talkin' Mikey! You're gonna be next!" Raph growled over his shoulder.

Donny groaned. "Can't you guys just shut up and eat the goat-cheese and olive one? It's gonna get cold."

Mikey turned his smile from Raph to Donny. "You're getting old too! You have no sense of fun!"

"You're brother is right Donatello-san." Usagi said, giving Don a rather obnoxious smile. "and your food preferences do not help the image at all."

"I know right?!" Mikey grinned, happy to have a back-up.

"Not that any of it is really that appetizing," Usagi scrunched his nose slightly, pulling a face in open disgust. "but I see no reason to _torture_ yourself Donatello-san!"

Donny shot him a light glare. "You know, you're as big of a dork as Mikey is sometimes."

I couldn't help but laugh at this.

-----

It was late in the evening. Mikey had fallen asleep on the couch, Jotaro draped sideways over his shell.

Raph had gone to bed while Donny was at his workstation, clearing Bishop's files off his computer, storing them onto a separate hard-drive in case they ever became useful again for one reason or another. Master Splinter was in his room, meditating.

I exited the kitchen, carrying a cup of tea as I moved to Donny's room where I was still bunking while Usagi and Jotaro shared mine.

I snuck past the couch, turning to look at it as I wondered if I should get the two of them a blanket before I went to bed. I came to a stop when I saw Usagi leaning over the back of the couch, fiddling with something.

I frowned, curious as to what he was doing. I came closer, treading softly so I wouldn't wake my little brother and the boy. Usagi heard me however and turned to see who I was. He smiled when he recognized me.

"Oh, Leonardo. I thought you had already retired for the night." He said, keeping his voice low.

"I was just about to." I said, taking a sip from my cup. "What's going on here?"

Usagi gave a sheepish grin. "Nothing. I was merely making sure they were both warm."

I blinked, looking over the couch's back to see he'd done what I myself had thought about doing, having put a blanket over both Mikey and Jotaro. I had caught him in the act of tucking the child in.

I gave him a smile. "You like to fuss don't you?"

He pulled a face at me in mock annoyance. "Come come now. You should not make fun at my expense."

I gave a chuckle. "Alright, calm down. To be honest I was thinking of doing the same thing."

Usagi smiled again, turning and finishing the job carefully.

I stayed, watching him carefully wrap the blanket around the little boy, making sure that there was nowhere he might get a chill from and that he was comfortable lying the way he was.

"You could just take him back to my room and put him down for the night." I said as I watched.

Usagi nodded. "I know. But I do not have the heart to do so."

I smiled, gentler this time as I nodded. "They've kinda grown on each other haven't they?" I sighed. "Mikey's gonna be lonely when you two go home."

Usagi chuckled, giving me a sideways glance. "Lonely? With the three of you around here? Forgive me Leonardo, but 'lonely' is not a word I would choose to describe your home."

I grinned. "Oh? And what word _would_ you use?"

His smile became more genuine as he straightened, satisfied that the boy was settled. "A great many as a matter of fact." He flashed me a grin. "Energetic being one of them, but also comforting, pleasant and welcoming."

I smiled at him. "Then we haven't driven you crazy yet."

He gave a light laugh. "Not as of yet no. If anything... I find myself very grateful for your antics, these walls and the now familiar comforts within them." His smile fell ever so slightly. "Especially after our heavy burdens."

I gave an understanding nod, my smile fading as well.

Usagi said nothing for a moment, looking around at the lair thoughtfully. "I had almost forgotten the atmosphere a home has within it. You and your brothers remind me of why a settled life is so attractive to us wanderers."

My smile disappeared completely at this as I watched him. He looked over the high ceiling of the lair, the railings running up the stairs to the higher level, the doors to the service elevator, the small hallway leading to our individual rooms and the doorway to the kitchen. He smiled sadly to himself, lost in his own thoughts.

I bit my lip before I spoke again. "D'you think you're ever gonna settle down?"

He blinked, pulled from his thoughts as he turned back to me. He gave a soft laugh. "But of course. No-one can remain a vagabond his whole life."

I pulled a slight face. "Yeah. I guess not."

He smiled at me. "I have considered it very seriously in the past... ..however..." His eyes drifted back to Jotaro sleeping peacefully against Mikey's shell. "...certain matters arose that made it uncomfortable for me to remain in my home village."

A felt a small lump in my throat as I followed his gaze, staring at the sleeping child.

We said nothing for a few moments, the weight of the subject hanging thick in the air.

I swallowed, licked my lips, and then stepped into sensitive territory. "Usagi-san.. ..will you ever tell him the truth?"

Usagi was silent, staring lovingly at the small boy, but I knew he'd heard me.

After a pause he sighed, closing his eyes. "That is not my decision to make."

I felt the now familiar aggravation rise in me slightly. "Oh bullshit! Of course it's your decision to make! He's your son! If it's not your decision to make then whose is it?"

He blinked, turning back to me with a surprised expression. He relaxed again, giving me a warm smile. "You care too much and too easily Leonardo."

I growled lightly, cupping my hands around my tea and taking a drink irritably. "It's just not fair is all."

"No." Usagi agreed. "It is not. But then... it is what it is. Such is karma."

"Yeah? Well karma sucks." I grumbled.

Usagi snerked and put a hand to his mouth to stop himself from laughing, afraid he might wake Mikey and Jotaro.

I frowned at him. "I was being serious."

He nodded, calming himself down. "I know you were. That is why it is funny."

He turned to me, smiling softer but with a more more serious look in his eyes. "Tell me my friend, if one day a stranger came to your door, one of your own kind and told you he was your true flesh and blood... would you abandon your Sensei and father to be with him instead?"

I winced, pulling a slight face at this. "Yeah but see, there's no physical way for that to happen."

He gave a patient nod. "I am aware of this. But for argument's sake, say that it were possible and it happened... How would you feel?"

I thought about this for a moment, considering the situation and what it would mean for me personally. I tried to envision how it might play out, what might be said and how my family's reactions would be based on how I knew them.

I sighed. "In all honesty... I would never be able to see Master Splinter as anything but my true father. And what's more I would probably be quite angry, perhaps even resentful towards a stranger who would come in and disrupt our lives."

Usagi smiled sadly, giving a nod. "Exactly."

I gave him an almost desperate look. "But this is different! I mean, he knows who you are and he's very fond of you anyway! It's not the same thing!"

He tilted his head at me. "Is it not?"

I stammered at this before I went silent, thinking it over. I tried to picture the scene again, this time trying to see it from Jotaro and Usagi's point of view, taking into account all the feelings they already had for each other. It was a little tricky because I didn't know Jotaro's adoptive parent so I automatically thought of him with irritation, as some-one who was denying my friend his right as a father. So instead, I substituted the faceless man with Master Splinter.

I sighed. "Ok... I kinda get the point... I guess."

Usagi nodded again. He put a hand to my shoulder comfortingly. "You worry far too much my brother. But take comfort. I will be alright. I am fortunate enough to have the child in my life, even if it is not in the way I wish it to be. More importantly, I have the good fortune of knowing and seeing him as a happy, content individual. That is all I really need."

"Yeah but..." I bit my lip. "...When we were in the portal room.. ..that man said all those things...."

Usagi frowned lightly. "That was immoral of him... and I will admit I was grieved by his words and insights. But I have come to accept how my life has played itself out and how fate has decided to twist the path I walk. I have had great sadness, this is true, but my joys outweigh my miseries, We can never know what lies ahead of us." He smiled again. "But we can take comfort that, whatever happens, something _will_ lie ahead of us. Because, the most terrible and wonderful thing of this world Leonardo... is that life always carries on."

I listened, staring at the cooling liquid in my cup. I couldn't think of anything to say. Usagi was right and I knew it, but I still felt the sting of sympathy in my chest. I knew he was right, but it didn't lessen the hurt I felt for him, nor did it change how much I wished he could just settle down with his son and live happily ever after and never be separated again.

My expression must have given me away because he gave a light laugh. "Do not look so morbid my friend. It is not as bad as all that. After all, I am not alone. I have more friends than I deserve, and all of them are the kind one does not forget."His smile brightened. "And yes, you are included in that list."

I gave a half-hearted smile at this. "Yeah. Likewise."

He gave a nod. "I have an embarrassment of riches in my life Leonardo. Take comfort in that."

I nodded back, raising my eyes again. "Don't worry, I will." I managed to give him a real smile.

He nodded again, turning. "It is late. We should rest."

I nodded, turning to head to Donny's room.

I took another sip of my tea as we walked before I spoke again. "Mikey's not gonna be the only one who's gonna be lonely when you guys go..."

He turned to look at me again, tilting his head slightly.

I gave him an embarrassed smile. "I'm really gonna miss ya."

He smiled warmly at this, patting me on my shell affectionately. "You must visit _me _next time. There is much I would like to show you of my world." He stopped at my door, pushing it open to enter. "And besides... I will miss you greatly as well."

I smiled back. "Goodnight Usagi."

"_Oyasumi."_ He echoed, closing the door behind him.

**Xxxxx**

_I do not share Leo's anger towards Stan Sakai XDD Forgive me sir!_

_One more update to go!  
_


	42. Farewells

_I don't own TMNT or UY_

_Don't forget the Epilogue!! I'm submitting it at the same time so as not to break flow :) _

_Also, Artists' notes at the end for those who want to check it out._

**Xxxxx**

"For the last time Mikey; no." I sighed, rolling my eyes.

He gave a long, drawn out whine. "Aw come on Leo! Why not?!"

I pulled a face at him. "Do you seriously need me to tell you _why_ you can't go with them?"

Mikey pouted at me. "Yeah! I mean what's the big deal?! It wouldn't be forever and I'll come back!" His pout broke and he grinned widely at me instead. "I mean I know you guys would miss me but I'm sure you'll be able to get along _somehow!_" He clasped his hands together, widening his baby blues at me. "Please Leo? It won't be for long I swear! Please please please?!"

I gave a groan, rubbing at my eyes with my fingers irritably. "Mikey. How many times do I have to say 'no' before you get the message? You can't go with Jotaro and Usagi. End of story."

He frowned, crossing his arms and puffing his chest out at me. "This is 'cause I got struck by lightening isn't it?! But I'm fine now! I can take care of myself! Besides, lightening never strikes the same place twice right? So technically I'm safe for the rest of my life."

I gave him a levelled stare. "Ok. First of all, none of that makes even the vaguest form of sense, second of all it wasn't lightening, and third this has nothing to do with that."

Mikey grumbled at me. "Sure it does."

I shook my head. "No, honestly it doesn't."

He sulked, leaning back against the side of the armchair as he glared at the floor, his legs dangling sideways over the chair's arm rest.

We'd finally reached that time, and Usagi and Jotaro were preparing to go home that evening. Usagi had healed up nicely. He no longer complained from any chest pains and we'd stopped giving him painkillers every day. His wrist was also fully functional again as he was eager to demonstrate during our last sparring match together in which, I must admit, he completely wiped the floor with me. After he'd made it clear his swordsmanship was back up to standard and he was perfectly capable of looking after himself again, we realised there was no point in keeping him here any longer. Besides, Jotaro was getting homesick and anxious for his mother.

Master Splinter had done what he could for Usagi's torn kimono, but he was gonna need to see a seamstress to get it properly mended. As for Jotaro, we had little to offer the boy. He mostly scurried around the lair in one of our disguises, usually a t-shirt that was miles too big for him tied at the waist. Somehow I never got tired of seeing him dressed like that. It was as amusing as it was adorable.

As for the rest of us, we had all more or less healed apart from some tenderness here and there. Mikey was definitely back to normal again. Master Splinter had started getting him involved in our training sessions again, and even though our sensei was taking it easy on him and it was obvious Mikey was a still a little slow in his reactions, I could tell with practice he'd be back up to speed again in no time.

Besides, he must be doing better if he was able to irritate me this much.

I sighed, uncrossing my legs and leaning towards him a little more from my position on the couch.

"Mikey honestly, It's got nothing to do with you getting hurt, there's just no way you can go with them. At least not today."

"Bet you'd go if you wanted to." He grumbled irritably.

I shook my head. "No, I wouldn't."

He blinked, looking up at me. "Sure ya would! You and Usagi are really tight! If you wanted to go he'd let you like, no question!"

I sighed. "Maybe he would, but that's not what I mean." I gave him a much more serious expression. "He needs to take Jotaro home, and he's gonna need to explain what happened to the boy's mother."

"Which is why I should go!" Mikey whined. "I could help! I could back him up and like, stop her from killing him and stuff!"

I couldn't help but smile at this. "Maybe, but... this is something he's gotta do on his own Mike. I think you know that."

Mikey made a reluctant noise. "Ok, maybe... but I still wanna go!"

I gave a nod. "I know Mikey, but you really can't."

He gave a huff, falling back on the chair. "So unfair."

I gave a light laugh. "Why don't you just _say_ you wanna go 'cause you're gonna miss them?"

He turned back to me, blinking wide-eyed. He then gave a sheepish grin. "I'm that transparent huh?"

I rolled my eyes. "No offence Mikey, but you're not exactly hiding your intentions very well."

He stuck his tongue out at me with a frown. "So what. If I wanna go I wanna go." His face brightened suddenly. "Or maybe-!"

"No." I quickly interrupted. "They can't stay here either."

"Ya mean we can't keep them?" He said with an overly pathetic tone of voice, his bottom lip quivering.

I burst out laughing. "No! What, you wanna keep them in a box under your bed or something?"

"Ew! Dude! No need to be all psycho killer about it!" Mikey scrunched his muzzle at me.

"That's not what I meant and you know it!" I laughed at him.

"Geez Leo, remind me to never go into a dark alley alone with you!" Mikey carried on, grinning at me.

"Oh please." I rolled my eyes. "If I wanted to kill you I'd have done it years ago!"

"_Unless,_" Mikey threw a finger into the air. "This was all part of your brilliantly crafted master mind scheme all along!"

I cocked a brow at him. "Really?"

He gave a nod. "Yeah yeah! I can see it now! You plotting to yourself, coming up with plans and stuff on how you're gonna take us out one by one 'till you're the only awesome cool turtle left in New York!"

"Ok, now you're just getting ridiculous." I said.

"Oh am I Leonardo? If that _is_ your real name?!" He gave me a deeply suspicious look.

I blinked at him, finding myself drawn into the game. "You know what?" I got up out of my seat. "You're right."

His grin dropped as he stared at me wide-eyed. "I'm what?"

I walked over towards him. "You're absolutely right. But now that you know of my plan I'm gonna have to destroy you."

Mikey blinked at me before giving a girlish shriek and leaping out of the chair but I grabbed him before he could get away. I got him into a headlock before I proceeded to knuckle his skull. He squirmed wildly with a squeal.

"No no no! Leo come on! Get offa me!! No fair! You play dirty!! I'm all sick and hurt and stuff remember?!"

I gave a laugh. "Yeah right! You can't keep using that excuse forever you know!"

He wriggled, trying to break my hold, despite laughing wildly to himself. "If ya don't let go I'm gonna call Raph and he's gonna kick your butt!"

"And what makes you think he's automatically gonna side with you and not help me instead? You forget, you and Jotaro stole his mask this morning and then _lost_ it! He's still pissed about that!"

"Hey! We found it again didn't we?!" Mikey pouted.

I chuckled, letting him go. "Yeah, in the sewer."

"Aw, it's not like they're that hard to make." Mikey waved a hand dismissively. "Besides, he's got a spare."

I smiled. "Even so, he's still annoyed with you two, especially since this isn't the first time you've pulled this stunt."

Mikey grinned at me. "Yeah, but we keep needing it to play ninja with! Besides, if we took yours or Donny's, Raph would get lonely with no-one to play with."

I laughed at this. "Maybe you're right."

"You know it!" His grin widened.

I smiled more affectionately at him. "You've done a good job keeping the boy's spirits up Mikey."

He blinked at me, his smile disappearing into a more surprised stare.

I felt my smile brighten. "In fact... you've probably done more for that kid than any of us put together."

Mikey smiled again, more seriously. He dropped his gaze slightly. "I'm gonna miss him."

I nodded, giving his shoulder a well-meaning pat. "You'll see him again. You can count on that."

He lifted his gaze, smiling a little more happily again and giving a nod. "Oh yeah! Totally!"

I smiled back warmly.

"I should probably go find him." Mikey said, turning to trot away. "I don't want him to get all gloomy and sulky 'cause he's leaving."

I nodded, watching him go. I thought for a moment as I watched his shell trot in the direction of the dojo where I could hear Raph and Donny face off against each other in their daily training session. Usagi and Jotaro were more than likely watching the event with Master Splinter surveying the match. I smiled to myself.

"Hey Mikey!" I called after him.

He stopped, turning to blink at me over his shoulder questioningly.

I beamed at him. "You seem a lot better."

He blinked at me for a moment before he broke into a bright, cheerful smile. "Yeah... I was able ta work some stuff out...."

He turned and continued to the dojo, a light bounce in his step.

----

We stood, waiting patiently as Master Splinter finished drawing the intricate symbols and runes against the wall.

Usagi stood beside me. I could see his hands clench and unclench themselves as he waited. He was anxious. I smiled, putting a hand on his shoulder and giving it a squeeze. He blinked, shaken from his thoughts as he turned to look at me. My smile brightened a little but I said nothing, merely giving him a look of encouragement. He relaxed, giving me a grateful smile in return.

Raph stood on the other side of me, his arms crossed as he watched master Splinter work. His usual scowl was still on his face, but I knew it was merely a mask. Raph hates emotional good-byes. They made him uncomfortable because he wasn't sure how to keep up his 'tough-guy' appearance but not come across as a jerk. That and, of course, he was sad to see our friend go.

Donny stood close by, smiling widely to himself. I don't think he was even aware he was doing so. Relief was practically pouring off of him as he waited for this final step in the journey to be completed. Donny was not satisfied that we'd succeeded in our mission until Usagi and Jotaro were both back safely where they belong. He was truly happy for them, and that was overpowering any sadness he was feeling over our parting.

Mikey however wasn't even trying to hide his unhappiness. He was biting down on his bottom lip very hard, his eyes shining brighter than they should as he watched.

Jotaro blinked up at him before elbowing him lightly. "_Nii-san!" _He reprimanded him.

Mikey blinked, turning to stare down at the small boy. Jotaro gave him a disapproving, childish frown. "(You are embarrassing me!)"

Mikey immediately went into a pout. "(Well excuse me! I suppose you want me to start doing cartwheels and dancing around!)"

Jotaro blinked up at him with wide eyes. "(You don't need to go _that_ far!)"

Usagi gave a laugh. "(Do not be so harsh on him Jotaro-kun.)"

Jotaro sighed. "(He needn't act so depressed about it! We're gonna see each other again!)" He blinked, tilting his head upwards at Mikey again. "(We will won't we?)"

Mikey gave a laugh, crouching down and promptly wrapping his arms around the child tightly. "(Of course! Heck if it were up to me I'd kidnap you myself!)"

Jotaro gave a wriggle against Mikey. "(Alright, but make sure to ask me first before you do ok?!)"

"(And make sure to double check with _me._)" Usagi added, giving Mikey a sideways glance and a grin. "(I am busy and can not come rescue Jotaro-kun every second day you know!)"

Mikey stuck his tongue out at the samurai but said nothing. Jotaro giggled.

"If you do not mind, I am trying to concentrate." Master Splinter grumbled, his hands clasped in front of him as he tried desperately to focus on his chant.

Mikey gave a sheepish grin. "Sorry Master Splinter!"

Splinter nodded, closing his eyes and reciting the chant again. We waited patiently, our eyes glued to the wall with the intricate symbols scrawled on it in chalk. The puddle of water Sensei had thrown in front of the wall slid upwards against the concrete before it arced over itself, curled inwards and then poured downwards, forming the shape of a doorway. It glistened for a moment before it lit up, turning a bright, powdery blue, light streaming from it. A soft wind rose around us, rushing inwards towards the portal.

Master Splinter nodded, turning and coming over to us. He turned to face the Samurai before he gave him a warm, caring bow.

"_Sayonara_ Miyamoto Usagi-san. I wish you nothing but good fortune and prosperity." He straightened again, his smile widening slightly. "And please, do not wait until a tragedy to visit us next time. Your company is very well received... and you are welcome in our home at any time, as if it were your own."

Usagi smiled warmly at Splinter, giving him a bow in return. "Your kindness and hospitality knows no bounds Sensei. If it were not for you and your family I would have been lost. I am forever in your debt, and I have no means to ever repay you or express my gratitude."

Splinter gave him an understanding nod. "Know this Miyamoto-san, as one father to another, I understand your gratitude but you owe us nothing at all. Your friendship is enough if not more."

Usagi smiled warmly at him before turning to the rest of us.

"Raphael-san, I want to thank-"

"Nah nah nah." Raph waved his hands in the air dramatically. "Don't ya dare put me on the spot Bunny-boy! I'm no good with all this mushy good-bye crap!" He glared at Usagi, shooting out a hand. "Just promise you'll come back and keep Leo outta my face for a while ok?"

Usagi gave a laugh, taking his hand and squeezing it tightly. "You have my word my friend."

Raph nodded before he broke into a wide smile. "Take care of yourself cotton-tail."

"Good-bye Usagi." Donny said with an affectionate smile. "We're really gonna miss you. This place is gonna be very quiet with the two of you gone."

Usagi shook his hand as well, giving him a pat on his shoulder. "I am sure your Sensei will be appreciative of this Donatello-san. And thank you for all of your help and expertise, you really astound me with your knowledge and skill."

Donny said nothing, his cheeks flaring up darkly as he smiled.

Usagi turned to Mikey. "Mikey-kun-"

"_Don't go!"_ Mikey wailed before bursting into tears.

Raph groaned, palming his face and shaking his head.

Usagi laughed before making a sympathetic noise. "You know we must Mikey-kun." He smiled more happily. "But I want to thank you for everything you have done for us. For your kindness when I needed it, your devotion, your bravery and your good-hearted spirit. You really are a shining individual, and I will never forget what you were willing to do for us."

Mikey snivelled, giving a watery nod as his lip trembled.

Usagi gave him a last smile before he turned to me.

I swallowed but the lump wouldn't go away. I was aware of the fact that I was blinking more than what was natural. I cleared my throat.

"You really have to come visit again when things are more normal and not so hectic." I said, although I could hear the quiver in my voice.

Usagi merely smiled, giving me a nod.

I pulled a slight face, thinking of what on earth I could even begin to say to him that would describe how I was feeling. How could I possibly express in words what I felt? Everything we'd been through together, everything we'd shared together. It was beyond words. I wanted to let him know how important he was to me, how much I cared about him and what it meant to me to be friends with him, but nothing I could think of could possibly do my feelings justice.

"Take care of yourself." I said pathetically, holding my hand out for him to shake.

He stared at it for a moment.

He reached out, gripped it tightly, then tugged me violently forward, throwing his arms around me.

I blinked, so stunned that for a moment I didn't really register what he was doing. I blinked, blinked again, and then hugged him back. His arms strengthened their hold around me as he clutched me in a death grip.

"...Thank you....."

My chest tightened and my vision blurred. I had nothing I could say in response. I shut my eyes tightly.

I hugged him a little harder before I let him go.

He beamed at me, full of adoration and care, blinking away the water in his eyes. I smiled back, my heart feeling both elated and torn in two at the same time.

Usagi wiped his eyes before he turned, holding his hand out to the boy clinging to Mikey.

"(Come Jotaro-kun. It is time we leave.)" He said.

Mikey gave the boy a last, bone crushing squeeze before he let him go, grinning widely at him.

"_Sayonora, Onii-san." _Jotaro said, smiling back fondly before he turned, taking his father's hand.

Usagi gave us a heartfelt smile. "_Sayonara, _Hamato family."

We each gave our calls and well wishes, Mikey standing up and waving his arms above his head wildly. Splinter merely beamed at the two of them.

I found myself unable to call out anything, merely smiling brightly as I waved.

Usagi gave us one last smile before he turned, leading the small, waving boy through the shining portal.

A brilliant flash of light filled the whole lair. The portal sparked and shone a little brighter for a moment before it faded, leaving nothing but the blank wall behind. Excess lights and glimmers from the dimensional door hung in the air as we stood in silence.

I could feel a gaping void in my chest, steadily growing as I stared at the empty wall in front of us.

Good luck Usagi, with whatever life chooses to throw at you.

You will always have a home here, wandering samurai.

"Well." Raph said, giving a cough and clearing his throat. "Now that _that's_ done... anything on TV tonight?"

"Not really." Donny said with a sigh, turning to give Raph a look of mock disapproval.

"Whose day is it to pick?" Mikey said, turning to walk to the entertainment area.

"Mine." Raph said with a wide grin, turning to walk with him as he gave Mikey a love-tap against his arm.

Splinter shook his head as he tutted to himself. He gave me a loving smile before he walked to join them.

I followed after my father, sticking close to him.

"Aw great." Mikey moaned, rubbing his arm. "I guess that means Clint Eastwood's on the menu! _Again!"_

"Nah, I'm gettin' kinda sick of Westerns." Raph said, walking over to the DVD player. "How 'bout some Akira Kurosawa instead? I suddenly have the urge ta watch some guys in pajamas wavin' Butter-knives around."

I found myself laughing at this, blinking away the last of my tears.

**Xxxxx**

_._


	43. Epilogue

I Don't own TMNT or UY.

**Xxxxx**

_Wind whipped past me, stinging my eyes._

_The bright lights swirled and danced all around us, but I paid them no mind._

_I continued to walk forward purposefully, gripping the small, warm hand in mine tightly, feeling as if I never wanted to let go. I felt my dear son squeeze back as we travelled the distance between worlds._

_Memories were swirling in my mind, mimicking the disorientating scenery around us as I recalled all that had happened. It was almost hard to believe they were all real events. It felt so dreamlike, and I hardly believed I was heading homeward once more. I half expected to step out of the portal and finding ourselves once again in the cool, boisterous household of Leonardo's family. I was glad to once again be heading for my homeland, but the separation was already aching within me. Oh yes. I will miss you greatly Leonardo._

_I will miss them all. They were as close to a true family as I could have, and I could only hope that they perceived me the same way. I love them all._

_The portal flashed, a sudden bright light blinding me for a moment before I felt my feet step out from the soft nothingness and onto the rough, gravelled road._

_There was a crackle and the portal behind me melted inwards on itself, leaving nothing in its wake but a faint shimmer in the air._

_I turned, staring at the spot where the dimensional door had vanished, but there was nothing to see but the sprawling scenery around us._

_The sun was lowering, but the sky was still a fresh, azure blue. Thin, wispy clouds moved slowly above us, caught in the seasonal winds. I closed my eyes, breathing deeply the scent of grass that had baked warm in the sun during the day, the downtrodden earth of the road, the faint traces of the leaves in their trees and the even fainter, far-off smell of hearth-fires being started for the evening meal._

_I opened my eyes, listening to the untroubled twitter of birds in the long grass. The fields spanned before me, curving and sloping in ways I was so familiar with, the well-used road cutting a line forward to where the land rose, forming mountains ahead of me. I could just make out the humble roofs of the village of my birth, and the birth of my son. Faint smoke trails could be seen rising into the air of approaching evening._

_Jotaro tugged on my sleeve, waking me from my musings._

"_Come on Uncle! Mother and Father must be so worried about me! We must let them know I'm alright!" he said anxiously._

_I smiled down at him, giving a nod. "You are right. Let us go."_

_He returned my nod, letting go of my hand as he ran ahead of me, turning to make sure I followed._

"_Hurry Usagi-san! Hurry!"_

_I gave a soft laugh as I followed, the gentle breeze tugging at my kimono and tousling my ears. "Do not worry Jotaro-kun. I am coming."_

_I watched the figure of my son, my darling child, as he eagerly ran up the road towards our village, to where the figure of my dear Mariko was most likely waiting anxiously for his safe return._

_----_

**End**


	44. Author's Notes

**Thanks**

Firstly, I would like to thank Eastman, Laird and Sakai for giving us their characters. For letting us share in their lives and follow their stories. For letting their grief be our grief, and their triumphs our triumphs. There is no fathomable way to ever thank you for what you have given us.

----

When I started this story, my confidence in my writing was absolute, complete and utter rock bottom. When I say I had NO confidence in my writing whatsoever it is a gross understatement! I knew I could sculpt imagery ok, but I didn't believe I had any skill as far as constructing a story went. I was convinced I was a hopeless case who would never be able to write anything of substantial worth no matter how hard I tried.

In writing this little fanfiction, my self esteem and confidence has strengthened staggeringly, not only in my writing ability but also just in general. I have never, _ever_ done anything like this before in my life. It was more fun than I could every imagine, and I've never been prouder of anything I've created.

I want to thank those of you who stuck with me, through rough patches in the story, bouts of tantrums and severe cases of self doubt and uncertainty. The Only reason this fic ever reached completion is, with sincerity and honesty, because of the feedback you left me as I wrote. I am NOTORIOUS for NEVER finishing any fic I start. I still can't believe I was not only able to write such a long story, but that I enjoyed doing so to the very last sentence.

I thank you all from the very bottom of my heart, and cannot tell you how grateful I am for your comments, reviews and words of encouragement.

To those who followed the story but didn't comment, I want to thank you for sticking with it and seeing the whole thing through. I really hope you enjoyed it, and found it worthy of your time.

And lastly, to those who may discover this later on, I hope you enjoy this story as much as I enjoyed writing it. I know it is flawed in some ways, but for my first attempt at a serious fanfiction I am very proud, an I hope you got some joy out of reading it, even if you were not able to follow the updates as they happened. (Which might be a good thing. Some of my cliff-hangers were, I admit, brutally cruel)

I must apologise though, I never meant for this fic to get this long and out of control XD; I do hope you found it worth it as I never needlessly padded the story and let it unfold at its own pace and how I felt the flow should go. But I am sorry if it turned some people away after a while ^^;

lastly, my thanks to:

Krimzon, for inspiring me to start writing a fic of my own and then encouraging me once I voiced concerns about how good it would be

Arwing, for his encouragement and BETAing some of the chapters

DmajorBoss, ALSO for encouraging me to start the story. (I whined to a loooooot of people before I started writing)

The TMNT fanfic authors out there who made me cry and wail and go through emo bouts of "I could never do anything that long and awesome!"

The Rurouni Kenshin Soundtrack, for knowing JUST how to set the mood

NeoOffice. For NOT being MS Word

My local comic book store, for supplying me with my crack-habit in the form of TMNT and UY Comics.

----

**Notes:**

I have not read UY Book 1 (I started on Book 2) but I believe Jotaro's first appearance is in Book 6, entitled "Circles". I didn't elaborate on the story behind Jotaro, Usagi, Mariko and Kenichi because I saw no point in retelling something when Stan Sakai himself already wrote it more sadly and beautifully than I ever could. If you want to know exactly what the story is behind Usagi's Lover and child, I HIGHLY recommend checking out this book.

Again, Usagi Yojimbo Book 6: Circles.

Jotaro surfaces again in Book 18 (Travels with Jotaro) and Book 19 (Fathers and Sons) I do own them but haven't read them yet, although I am led to believe they are the two single most heartbreaking issues in the entire series (so far at least). I have a feeling once I read them I might come to despise this fic I've written for its inaccuracies XD;;

Jim in the chapter "What Jim Saw" I named after Jim Lawson, my favourite TMNT comic writer/artist.

'Tibalt' is the name of a street I grew up on.

Usagi's "Dorothy Syndrome" (That is, the feeling of displacement in an environment, like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz) that he shows through most of the fic in the Turtle's home is actually a LOT of self projection. I am originally from South Africa, but I have been studying in Canada for over a year now. I find it a very strange and frightening place, so a lot of my uncertainty and frustration is reflected in Usagi's lack of understanding of the Turtle's world.

I would have liked to include Casey and April in this story, but that would've made the cast of characters a ridiculous size, so they were left out, besides, I wasn't entirely sure how to fit them in properly without upsetting the atmosphere.

My only regret is I didn't have a chance to show Mikey's silliness more. On the same not, due to his stress levels I was unable to let Usagi's dorkier side have its moments.

Pray for me, as my mother has requested to read this fic XD;;

And finally, I've had a request to draw some of the scenes depicted in this story. At the time of writing this I haven't physically drawn anything yet, but I most certainly will in the near future :) I have always been a more confident artist than a writer. If you're interested, feel free to drop by my DeviantArt account (My name is also "C-Puff" there)

Thank you, every-one who read this story at whatever time.

It means more to me than you'll ever know.

All my Love

C-Puff


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